Addicted
by Angel of Shadow and Snow
Summary: It's like you're a drug. It's like you're a demon I can't face down. It's like I'm stuck. It's like I'm running from you all the time. Sinedd-central fic. Takes place after the events of Season 2.
1. Descent

_Author's Note: Well, this idea has been preying on my mind for the longest time now and I guess I just need to release it. After failing horribly in writing a past Galactik Football fic, I decided to finally give it another go. I DESPISE MARY-SUES....*coughs*, sorry I just needed to get that out. This one uses, I'm afraid, one of my OCs however she is NOT a Mary-sue and all precautions have been taken to ensure that no Mary-sueish-ness, (or OOCness for that matter), will occur. Feel free to let me know if you think I'm failing in it though.  
It feels good to write a Sinedd-centric fic as he probably is my favourite male character in the series.  
_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Galactik Football or any of the characters, place names and other unique nouns in it. I do however own Ebony, (not an author surrogate!), I don't mind if anyone wants to use her in a fanfic themselves or a DA picture but please let me know first.  
_

_Warning: This chapter contains swearing and rating may go up for quite mature content in later chapters. _

* * *

The smog.  
An enigmatic black haze.  
A magic trick.  
The player disappears but where will they reappear?

The smog.  
An illusion.  
Yet a truth.  
It confuses the mind.  
Yet reflects emotion.

The smog.  
A predator of the mind.  
An ensnarer of the senses.  
Made to excite the user.  
But to bewitch the beholder.

The smog.  
Poison.  
Deadly.  
A risk to use.  
Power at a price.  
Might for madness.

The smog.  
The ultimate blessing for the strong.  
Yet the ultimate curse for the weak.

And Sinedd, the Shadow's star striker, was certainly not weak.

The siren blared from the score board above, announcing the turn of the second half.  
"Pick it up!" Artegor Nexus, coach of the Shadows, barked from the controls. "You're ahead but not by much, you can do better!"  
Sinedd wiped the glistening sweat from his face, muttering curses and running a free hand through his soaked jet-black hair.  
"You'd swear _he _was the one actually doing the playing," he grunted to Fulmugus, the tawny-haired captain of the Shadows, who answered with one of his usual deep chuckles.  
He took up his position on the mid-field line. Opposite the red-headed captain of the Snow Kids.  
Waiting with bent legs and baited breath for the ball to whistle up through the duct between them.

D'jok flashed a cocky grin at his rival to which Sinedd replied with a sneer. Conceited bastard didn't deserve the attention he got. He didn't deserve the fame or attention.  
"I do," Sinedd murmured breathlessly as the ball shot out above them. "'Cos I'm better than _you_ D'jok."

The two sprang, rocketing into the air and bathed in flux.  
Their feet met in a sharp friction on the wildly spinning ball, their mouths both open in a silent roar of adrenaline.  
Sinedd pushed himself, sucking the air between his teeth as he felt gravity take hold again and pull him back to the pitch below.  
A hiss. Blackness before his eyes. Lungs burning for air.  
The smog engulfed both him and the ball and then he was in the opposite the goal.  
The crowd below gasped and cheered, marvelling his speed.

"_They should," _Sinedd thought. _"That's right. I'm the best here. I'm the one you came to see." _  
He swung his leg back, fiercely strong yet strangely graceful when veiled by the smoky haze of his flux. His eyes found his desired spot of bare netting and his entire body seemed to line itself up to aim. His kick was firm, controlled and loaded with ferocity.  
The ball became a dark meteorite as it plummeted back to earth and bounced into the back of the net.

Flawless.

He tumbled back to earth, lungs refilling and legs bent to catch his landing. The Shadow's hero, the one the crowd was screaming for, rose slowly from his heels. He was savouring the Snow Kid's crestfallen sighs, his team-mates triumphant laughing and Ahito's wide-eyed slack-jawed expression as the ball slowly stopped spinning in the net and rolled down to his feet with a thin, resounding _**thud**_.

"Ok then!" buzzed Artegor's voice from the intercom. "That's enough for today. Get in, get cleaned up and meet back in the common room. We have some work to attend to."

Sinedd grunted and watched as the pitch, crowd and players around him disappeared in a cloud of fuzzy white sparks. Piece by piece, illusion dissolved into reality. Players reduced to pixels. They were only holograms of course but that didn't stop him from giving a sharp, hostile glare to the red-headed player opposite him.  
_D'jok...he even hated the guy's hologram._ It never quite gave the satisfaction of sneering at the real thing, especially after a goal like that. _  
_

That kind of adrenaline that burned in his chest overbore the pain of everything else around him. It was like a drug that he could let himself dissolve into and forget everything he didn't want to remember...and there was a lot Sinedd didn't want to remember. Sometimes he felt like it was the smog doing that. Erasing his memory like an eraser pressed to blurry pencil lines and splitting his vision like cracked glass. But power always came with a price didn't it?  
Sinedd was strong. The smog was no baby flux. He had sworn to himself the day he'd learned to use it that he would endure the pain Artegor Nexus had warned him of and reap the rewards of his new found power.

He looked up at his reflection in the mirror.  
A young man with a narrow face and smooth black hair. Handsome. A little rugged and gaunt. He was thin and lanky but taut muscles lurked beneath his loose black jersey. Muscles and bruises. Bruises from everything from playing illegal underground football matches to dealing with the backlash of them.

It had been a tough, gruelling year, he recalled, as he blotted the sweat from his forehead.  
"Nothing I couldn't handle though," he mused, stuffing the remainder of his gear into his locker.  
"Say something?" Fulmugus grunted from beside him. The other players were too engrossed in their own business to pay any attention to the young man's mutterings. Showering, stretching out their long, dark slender bodies and laughing away in their deep, inaudible language of growls and screeches.  
Sinedd looked up. "No, I didn't...just thinking about the tournament...that's all."

The Shadow's captain gave a curt nod and raked his fingers back through his long brown hair. Sinedd was an alien among the rest of the team. Sometimes he looked at their long, muslin hair and their claw-like hands, their gaunt white faces and their eerie red eyes and it just sent shivers up his spine.  
He was different to them, isolated but then again...at least they didn't have that irritatingly delusional "best-friends-all-in-this-together-get-involved-in-each-other's-problems" that his former Akillian-born team-mates had.  
His new team-mates were also more than willing to make fun of those air-headed Snow Kids and, (sometimes quite literally), stand behind him if the situation called for it. But most days on the planet he now called home, he kept his thoughts to himself. He could do we wanted.  
Lonely? Never. He was content with no one to bother him.  
No nagging coach.  
No pestering team-mates.  
No parents back home to constantly fuss over him...  
No one.

Sinedd sloped down the hallway flanked by his fellow players, dark eyes glittering with anticipation with each step. Coach would be brimming with praise for him after this practice.  
"Happy with yourself?" Kai, their goalkeeper, smirked, noticing Sinedd's little grin.  
"Why wouldn't I be?" he glowed.  
Fulmugus laughed. "You make us proud, Snow-balls."  
Sinedd grimaced at his less-than-favourable nickname but rolled with the punches. "And I'll make you prouder when we take the title at Blitz..."  
It had been about a year since the last Galactik Football Cup and with the next not due for another three, the Shadows had their sights set on a new prize...the Blitz Tournament. It was an inter-galactic knock out tournament. Simple rules. Every team entered on every planet plays with no preliminaries. The teams are put against each other at random and one loss means you're out.  
It wasn't as big as the Cup but it held more than just a flashy trophy...it held reputation. It was a chance for teams to show off their endurance.  
Each match was held on the host-team's planet and the final was held on the planet holding the most goals.  
"And that planet's gonna be Planet Shadow," Sinedd laughed in false-triumph amid the chuckling chorus of his towering team-mates.  
Nilhis, the only girl on the team and a vicious midfielder behind her ivory hair, broke the symphony. "What about Sheirk? We still need a replacement for him."  
About a week beforehand, the striker who played beside Sinedd had been hospitalised after an "incident" during their last match with the Xenons that had got a little out of hand.  
(Apparently no one insults Luur's mother under his breath and gets away with it.)  
They had been holding trials for the past week but had found no one who could play up to their level, (or even survive playing beside their future team mates without ending up with several minor injuries for that matter).  
"What about that guy we had yesterday?" one of the other players chipped in. "He was pretty decent."  
"Decent?" snorted Fulmugus. "Decent won't get us to the finals of the GF cup."  
"You're thinking too far ahead," Kai interjected. "Sheirk should be out by then,"  
"Yeah, but with a shattered collar bone and torn ligaments, he's gonna need ages to recover..."  
"And he's gonna be out of training...Coach won't stand for that..."  
"It's like all the football-talent in the galaxy has already been sapped, huh?"  
"Heh, no players worth our time anymore..."  
"We can't play in Blitz without a full team though!"

"Hey guys, calm the fuck down, alright?" Sinedd interrupted breezily and with a cocky grin splashing across his sallow. "With me up front, we don't need a second striker!"  
The others laughed noisily, jeering and thumping him in the back but they all knew it was true. Maybe he wasn't fully one of them, but he had proved on more than one occasion that he deserved the place of honour he had on the team and the titles it had earned him from Genesis.  
Fulmugus gave a deep booming shout of laughter. "Snow-balls is going to bring us to victory this year."  
The Shadow players whooped and cheered, punching the air and chanting in growls around Sinedd.  
"Yeah that's right!" he joined in, jumping ahead as they rounded the corner into the common room. "I'm gonna lead this team to vic-"

He stopped dead in his tracks, staring into the open door of the common room. His open mouth slowly closed, like a goldfish trying to breathe on dry land.  
The other players who flanked him quietened too, stopping and staring just as he was, into the centre of the Shadow's team common room where the comfy black leather sofa was.  
Only they weren't staring at the sofa.  
They were staring at its occupant.

There, sprawled across their sofa with one leg stretched lazily out across the coffee table, was a girl.  
Her arms were firmly folded against her chest and behind the sleek, blonde curls that framed her milky face, she looked about in her late teens.  
She wore a bored, ignorant expression, eyelids lowered and lips pursed. She gave no reaction to the herd of players who had just entered the room other than a raised eyebrow. Her eyes remained fixated on the blank television screen ahead of her, like she was watching a movie that only she could see.

Sinedd exchanged estranged glances with his team mates, who all simply shrugged.  
No, they didn't know who she was.

He turned back to her with narrowed eyes and a half frown. It wasn't unusual for a fan girl or two to bribe her way past security in order to get a chance to drool over one of her idolised players. She wasn't one of the usual ghoulish looking Shadowarian girls, (in fact she looked quite human) and true, she wasn't jumping or screaming at the sight of them...but she was a little trespasser all the same.  
Sinedd's glare sharpened as he approached her: he wasn't in the mood for this shit today.

"Sorry girlie, but we're not signing autographs today," he said icily. "This is a closed practice session and you're interfering...so leave and come back another day."  
She slowly turned her head to look at him. Her lips stretched into a smile. "No, I don't think I will...hmm, you're Sinedd right?"  
He stared at her in numb disbelief. "Did you hear me? I said _leave_. This is a _closed _training session."  
She looked at him with a haughty, insulted expression and opened her mouth, perhaps to retaliate but just then, the spiky-haired coach of the Shadows strode into the room.  
Sinedd gave a sneering smile to the intruder; now she was going to get it, but his mouth fell open when Artegor _walked straight past her._  
He didn't even look at her from under his shining violet glasses. Instead he simply, pulled out his clipboard.  
"Right, all of you. Sit down, sit down and direct your attention to the holo-trainer screen. We have two friendlys to play before Blitz and quite frankly..."  
His team-mates obediently shuffled to a seat but Sinedd remained standing, indignant.  
"If you haven't noticed, Coach, we have an _uninvited _visitor."  
Artegor flicked his (invisible) eyes upward over the rim of his clipboard, lowering it and frowning.  
"Yes Sinedd, I am aware we have a visitor yet this one is indeed _invited_. Now, as I was saying..."  
"Then what's _she_ here for?!" Sinedd demanded rudely, suddenly backed by a chorus of his team-mates.  
Coach Nexus sighed and lowered the clipboard, exasperated. "As you are aware, Sinedd, we have been holding trials for a reserve player..."  
The black-haired young man almost choked on his own breath, refusing to look down at the triumphant face of the intruder. "Wh-wha...? _Her!?"  
_The other Shadows seemed shocked too, shocked and already laughing cruelly in disbelief. The girl was about half any of their size, (save a good head shorter that their beloved lead striker), gawky and stick-like and her blonde, baby's ringlets made her greatly resemble some kind of weirdo Barbie doll.

Artegor raised a hand to render them all quiet again and turned to the indifferent guest.  
"You _are _Ebony, are you not?"  
"I am," she replied slowly.  
"And if the information I've been given is correct, you are eighteen years old?"  
"Yes."  
"You have never played for any clubs before this..."  
A disbelieving stare. Silence.  
"That's true."  
"And your current residence is on this planet. Is that right?"  
"Uh-huh."

He ran a hand down the clipboard tentatively, checking the information and clicking his tongue.  
"Well, if all that is correct than you may change into your gear into the next room and wait in the lobby while I address my team."  
The girl called Ebony gave a curt nod and walked out, without another word.

The frail blonde head had barely left the room when Sinedd began his uproar. "You can't be serious! We need a REAL replacement."  
Fulmugus was a little more rational in his complaints. "Coach, she has no experience..."  
"True," Artegor interrupted. "But I have had her..._specially recommended_ by a prestigious friend of mine. Apparently she's talented...and at this stage we are in _desperate _for a replacement. Which, I may remind you, we cannot begin training without." He paused and scanned the troop of players before him, like a vulture singling out its prey, before turning back to the holo-screen.  
"Now sit down, Sinedd and if you have any more "insight" for us all than please wait until afterwards to give it..."

Sinedd gave a growl, swearing violently under his breath, but sank reluctantly back on to the sofa with his team-mates. A familiar tightening feeling had just begun in his chest again, rising with the rage that had just ignited there.  
The plummeting rollercoaster of emotion that had just shot through him was enough to make a demon of a saint.  
His lips curled, deaf to his Coach's instructions. Maybe it was wrong to want to make that girl a surrogate for his sudden anger, but that hardly bothered Sinedd. He would take pleasure in seeing her smug little face when they rejected her for a place on the team. For whatever "special recognition" she had, he would expose her for the worthless little amateur she was.

* * *

The dim lights burned down over a synthetic green-glass pitch and two gleaming white goalposts.  
It was almost like the ones back on Akillian, Sinedd would often recall, only narrower and slightly darker.  
Sort of like the girl who padded her way across the pitch, her trainers squeaking with every step.  
Artegor pulled the CCTV of the pitch on to the big screen monitor. Perhaps it was a little unfair of him to allow the whole team watch Ebony's first trial...but then again the Shadows were never exactly famed for their fairness, were they?

"Walk into the centre of the pitch," Artegor commanded over the intercom.  
She jumped a little hearing his voice boom out of the system, (Sinedd noted with mirth), but obeyed.  
Her legs looked shaky and her shoulders were hunched over in that "first timer's" way most newbie players walked out on to the pitch in, arms wrapped up as if they were trying to hold themselves together.  
"Ok, Ebony listen carefully," Artegor began. "I'll be trying you out as a striker..."

He pushed a button and a clone-goalie appeared, guarding the net in front of her.  
"Ten balls are going to appear in front of you in moderation. You have the simple objective of scoring a goal with each one of them. You need to score at least five or over to continue in this trial."  
"_Good luck...you'll need it!" _shouted Sinedd mockingly, sending his team-mates into fits of silent laughter.  
Artegor rolled his eyes as he leaned forward into the monitor. "Ebony, do you understand?"  
She nodded quickly but her eyes remained shifty and uncertain.  
_"Ebony_...I need an answ-"  
"Yes. Yes I understand!"  
"Alright then...begin!"

The first ball appeared on the white strip before her.  
Sinedd leaned back into the soft, supple leather of his seat and sniggered to himself. Her first kick was a miss, the goalie knocking the ball straight back at her. Failed. _  
"Obviously," _he thought to himself with satisfaction.  
Her second soared straight out over the top bar, her face creasing slightly in disappointment.  
Artegor leaned forward again. "Miss, I implore you not to waste my time."

The next ball shot into the bottom of the net before the man had time to breathe.  
Her blurry pixelated face had grown sharp with frustration. Her fists clenched and this time she took two swift steps back before swinging another curved kick at her desired target.  
Sure enough, the fourth bounced into the back of the net, just evading the goalie's careful grasp.

"Beginner's luck, coach, make the keeper faster."

Her fifth was caught- but only barely.  
Her sixth bounced under the bar and into the net.  
"Ok," Artegor shouted in. "I'm going to send the next four balls to you at various heights and angles...steady them and shoot them in."

"Bring it!"  
An annoying false confidence had begun to grow in the girl that Sinedd couldn't help but think was undeserved.  
"You're not on the team yet, blondie, you've only managed to get three of them in. Go back to pole-dancing."  
"Yeah, but she's better than most of the rest...and what makes you think she pole dances? Checking _that_ out?" laughed Fulmugus, causing his team mate to glow red, realising he had just said that last "mental statement" aloud.  
"_Let's see you crash and burn,"_ thought Sinedd, remembering his first trial.

The seventh ball whistled in from behind her. She managed to catch it against her chest, (a little clumsily), and position it for a kick that ended it in a goal.  
_"Anyone could have made that."_  
The eight missed but she did manage to catch it in mid-air.  
_"Heh...not good enough."_  
Ball number nine soared straight in.  
_"Luck over skill, I guess."  
_Number ten followed it.  
_"So you can score a goal or two. Big whoop." _

Clearly, Coach Nexus didn't seem to think the same thing. He was smiling slowly to himself and nodding, watching her replay.  
He whipped around to his team.  
"Fulmugus! Sinedd! Gear up and get inside the holo-trainer. We need to put her through the paces. You know what to do."  
The black haired striker smiled darkly. "Gladly, coach. My pleasure."  
Artegor held up a hand against his Sinedd's chest, barring his exit.  
"Don't use the smog."  
"What?"  
"That goes for both of you. No using the smog. There's no need to. I need to base this test on raw talent and that won't happen if you set the bar too high."  
"Ugh, fine..."

"And Sinedd?"  
"...yes?"  
"Keep the pressure on but don't crack down too much. Same to you, Fulmugus."  
Both players nodded, (one somewhat more convincingly than the other), before striding out of room and appearing moments later in the holo-trainer beside Ebony.  
The two Shadows were tall and muscular in comparison to the scrawny girl at the goal before them.  
Sinedd grinned and nudged Fulmugus before disappearing in a cloud of black. He appeared back into reality a few seconds later, seeming to glide out of thin air just in front of the girl.  
Fulmugus raised an invisible eyebrow but followed suit.  
This was a sadistic little game they liked to play with all the newbies and less experienced players. The smog intimidated people. It was power that was feared.  
Ebony flinched a little, leaning back and crossing her arms indignantly but her face barely changed.  
"Right. I am Fulmugus...the captain of this team," he growled. "You get five tries to dribble past Sinedd and me and shoot into that goal." He gestured to the gleaming white posts behind him. "If either of us gets the ball off you, then that counts as a fail. Understand?"

She frowned and murmured silkily: _"Two_ of you, big boys against...one of little me? That hardly seems fair, now does it?"  
"In a real match you won't get the chance to _pick_ who tackles you and how many of them do," Sinedd snapped, flaring a little smog up around his ankles.  
"Fine," Ebony sighed. "Where do I start?"  
"Walk to the furthest touch-line and wait there," Fulmugus ordered. "The first ball will appear in front of you in thirty seconds."  
Ebony turned on heel and jogged off down the pitch, curls bouncing behind her.

Fulmugus looked down at his team-mate's feet as they took up their positions. "Coach said no smog."  
"He said no _playing _with the smog...now let's send the little wannabe packing..."  
Sinedd's eyes caught Ebony's back as she turned, surveying her slender little form like a sniper ready to fire at his target. His eyes focused sharp on her figure at the other end of the pitch as he crouched, ready to run. Fingerless gloves clenched into fists.  
Red eyes swivelled down to him. "Coach said not to crack down on her..."

"He said not to crack down on her _too much_," he hissed reedily, the words catching against his gritted teeth as the first ball materialised before them.

Sinedd shot forward, Fulmugus hanging back to defend.  
After all, he knew his team-mate wouldn't need the extra strength this time.

She was quicker at dribbling than he had initially presumed. Her legs flicked deftly around the glowing white orb, shuffling it out of his reach.  
He swerved around her, striking a heel or toe out at her ankles- not actually to attempt to get the ball off her. Just to rip her attention from the ball.  
She stubbornly kept her eyes downwards, giving him her back and rounding on the ball like a selfish little kitten.  
Sinedd almost laughed; it was just like playing with one of the kids on his street back on Akillian. Where the seeds of a passion for football and a desire to be the best had been planted...where he an D'jok would lock knees outside Planet Akillian Cafè in the snow, shouting childish abuse at each other, their gangs gathered around them and his step-parents calling to him to not hurt himself again...

He was sent plummeting back to the here and now when Ebony slid past him, ducking by Fulmugus' defence. Her ball control was shaky but the Shadow's captain was too surprised by her speed to concentrate properly.  
The two wrestled for a moment and seconds later, the ball was in the net.

Sinedd wanted to slap the smug little smile off her face.  
He threw his weight against her on her second try, knocking her backwards. Slyly, it wasn't hard enough to knock her over (and get him in Artegor's bad books) but it winded her and sent her stumbling backwards.  
"You don't belong here," he whispered dragging the ball back with his heel. "Give up yet?"  
"N-no!" she gasped. "No."

"3 tries left."

Fulmugus took the next go, shuffling left and right like a ballroom dancer opposite his partner. She didn't try to avoid his eyes like most would but she still squirmed when his long ghostly body graced hers.  
Sinedd added a third to their duet and made a swift kick at her shins.  
She dodged.  
He swerved.  
She moved forwards for the goal.  
_Big mistake. _  
Sinedd stole the ball in one fluid kick and Ebony ended up flat on her face.  
She shot him a fierce glare from beneath her tossed hair, now messy over her red face.  
"That's two!" he sniggered, waving the two fingers in front of her face. "Two to one! Ready to pack it in?"  
Ebony staggered to her feet and sneered. "You wish."  
"Fine, bitch," he thought, taking up his position again. "Your funeral."

Her fourth was fast.  
She spun past Fulmugus, the ball at her heels. Spun? Yes, spun.  
Not like a footballer would at all but it did the job. In seconds she was pulsing towards the goal, ducking past Sinedd and taking aim for a shot.  
The young man gave a vicious kick into her ankles that knocked the ball off its course...but it still bounced in, against the posts.  
_She was lucky.  
She had fortune...not skill._

The three were panting, sweating even from their little session and three pairs of eyes locked hungrily on to the fifth ball as it appeared.  
Sinedd had it beneath him almost effortlessly, Fulmugus ready to reinforce his lead. But the girl was  
faster than before and had the cherished sphere between her ankles right under the striker's silhouette.  
The two pro-players swerved around her, kicking and blocking mercilessly: her shins took the heat.  
She managed to squeeze out of their trio, making a dash for the end of the pitch. Like a mouse running to a mouse-hole with its treasured little trinket.  
Behind her, a dark Cheshire cat grinned and savoured the moment before his attack and exchanged a glinting glare with his team-mate.  
He and Fulmugus sprinted after her to use an old favourite of theirs when it came to tackling.  
Both leapt to the ground and slid, feet ramming into Ebony's ankle and knocking her clean into the air. Her leg swung upwards in a clumsy kick as she let out a birdlike cry that pierced the hot, sweaty air around them.  
She fell to the ground, back pounding into the green glass below.

_Owned.  
_Sinedd stood up, triumphant and laughing....until he followed his gaping team-mate's gaze to the net.  
"You're screwing with me..."

Ebony had fallen, now grunting and groaning on the ground beneath them.  
But the ball had rolled straight into the goal.

The girl laughed, arching her back in glee when she spotted her "achievement".  
"That's three...if I'm not mistaken...," she rolled over, hauling herself to her feet. "Three to two..."  
Sinedd growled, pushed past Fulmugus and stormed over. Rage pounded in his temples. "_Look, you_..."  
Suddenly Artegor's voice buzzed through the ear-pieces. "That's enough... return to the common room."

A draining feeling washed over Sinedd. Fatigue, frustration and a sickening sense of being cheated all combined to do their best to break down his limited self control- and normally he liked this feeling, (when he was instilling it in someone else of course).  
Half of him wanted to strangle the long white neck under the fluffy curls that primly took a seat in front of him in the common room. The other half wanted to break it with crow-bar.  
_"Smug little bitch...thinks she's so great..."_  
Her smug little smile widened when Artegor reappeared with his clip-board to face the waiting team.  
A dull thump of embarrassment hit him when he remembered that his entire team had seen the two of them lose to that little amateur.  
"Lose?" he thought to himself. "What loss? Her last shot was a total fluke. She's lucky, not a good player..."

In his daze, he barely noticed Artegor stride forward and shake Ebony's hand.  
"You have raw potential, Miss. With a little training, perhaps we can make something of that..."  
The Shadows whispered among themselves, grunting in a mixture of displeasure and curiosity; Sinedd gave a cynical snort of "You can't be serious."  
Artegor frowned. "Like it or not, Sinedd, Ebony is a member of this team now. You'd do best to accept it..."  
He turned back to Ebony, handing her a black plastic bag. "In this you'll find your uniform, training suit and timetable. It would be in your best interest to stick to it," he added sharply.  
She took the bag with flourish, grinning like the sly little cat she was. "Thank you, sir."  
"You are excused. Give your father my regards."

She turned on heel to leave, brushing fluidly through the sea of towering players behind her.  
"I'll see you all on Monday then," she giggled as she passed. "Looking forward to it, too."

Artegor pressed his lips together, eyes working thoughtfully beneath his violet shades for a few moments after she left, then he turned back to his team.  
"You all have an hour of free time and at seven I want you all suited up and back on the pitch for passing drills. The smog is back, we have to make the most of it..."

Sinedd was the first to leave, storming out of the common room and into the hall without a word but a vicious sneer on his lips.

* * *

"_I almost didn't make it...ugh, I know, I..," Ebony whipped her head around, noticing the doors opening behind her. "Hang on, Papa, I'll call you back later."  
Switching off the tele-watch, she hastily swung out of sight and path of the black haired teen who emerged from the slide of the doors. _

_She saw him stride into the hallway, like a wolf, the alpha male, consoling his territory.  
From the alcove where she stood, hidden, she could see the anger in those shining violet eyes and the acute white shine the dim lights cast on his perfect, pale skin.  
Ebony had seen him on t.v. before, heard about his turbulent transformation from Snow Kid to Shadow and caught a few of his interviews on Arcadia Sports...but knew nothing of his history...well, none more than a bouncy red-headed commentator had interrogated him about.  
Whatever was going on behind those dark, handsome eyes, tantalised her.  
Irritatingly arrogant and cocky as he was...there was something about this fabled Genesis god, the iconic all-star that drew her straight in.  
She watched him lean against the wall, knuckling his forehead and groping against the shining metal as if trying to beat a headache out of himself. Beneath the black and green of his jersey, his outstretched arm was laden with smooth, tight muscle...not like she hadn't noticed on the pitch but, then...she hadn't the time to __**appreciate **__it... _

"_No," she told herself firmly, making a move to leave soundlessly without him noticing.  
But before Ebony could take a step, her eyes were dragged towards the hazy wisps of smog, the toxic kiss of a flux, rising from his shoulders.  
She made a grab for the canister of pills in her pocket, but then relaxed...sauntering towards him with a grin and a tainted mindset.  
Unable to control the urge, Ebony took a deep breath of the smog floating around his shoulders.  
_

_Sinedd leapt around, scandalised. Her chin hovered on his shoulder, her lips inches from his jaw-line.  
"What the-!?"  
He honestly could not believe that she had been __**inhaling **__his flux! Without so much as a cough!  
She gave an innocent smirk in response to his incredulous glare.  
"You freak...what are you...?"  
"The smog's not for babies, now is it? But not everyone hates it..."  
"And I suppose you'd know? With your "experience", huh?"  
She gave an annoying giggle and a shrug. "Perhaps...perhaps I'm just curious."  
With that, Ebony flounced out to the door.  
Sinedd couldn't deny the shudder that ran up his spine as he gritted his teeth, imagining grabbing those fluffy little curls and tying them to the engine of a star-ship before its launch.  
"Weirdo..."_

"_I'll see you Monday then!" she called back, before disappearing out the front door with another witch-like cackle.  
_

"_And I'll give you something to laugh about then...," he hissed under heavy, smoky breaths._


	2. Bound

_Read, review, comment and criticise as you see fitting.  
I do not own Galactik Football, which belongs to Alphanim. I do not make any profit from writing these fanfics, (except in the mental release sense).  
Most of the information I have acquired about Planet Shadow and the Shadows as a team has been obtained from the official website .com and its official A-Z of Galactik football.  
_

_Enjoy part two :)__  
_

_Theme song for this chapter? Supermassive Black Hole by Muse_

* * *

Monday came way too early.

Ebony had arrived that morning at five am, moved into her new bedroom and appropriated herself a place in the locker room, with the air of a tornado ripping through the house. A tornado that had dowsed itself in over-expensive perfume and was set to usurp everything in its path- just like every other natural disaster.  
_Ugh, newbies..._

It was dark that morning when they began training. It was always dark on the Shadows planet when they began training.  
Planets made of obsidian rock that float on the outskirts of massive black holes tend to be dark.

Sinedd glared at her, the vain little cow, preening at herself in the glossy green glass of the pitch. He hadn't stared at himself half as much when he first got his training uniform.  
They were only running passing drills so he hadn't gotten the chance yet to come through on his threat of "really making her laugh" but he that didn't mean he didn't plan to.

"Come on! Come on! Faster, all of you! Nice work Kai! Pick it up, Nilhis! Sinedd! Keep up the pace!"  
Artegor's orders just never stopped coming. Sinedd felt his reedy, thin voice vibrate against the microphone on his cheek and every vibration just made him want to push himself harder.

"No one is better than me," became his mantra as he wove skilfully around his fellow players. A carefully calculated pattern that he could do in his sleep but it needed a unique effort every time to give that same fierce level of performance that the Shadows were famous for.  
Daunting pressure for anyone.

A shrill siren echoed out across the pitch.  
"Ok, that's enough passing sessions for now," Artegor announced. "Split into your usual teams and practice your one on one tackling. I'll fill the opposing goal with a clone. Ready?"

The team panned out.  
Sinedd raked his gloveless fingers through the spikes of his fringe and let another wave of adrenaline pumped fatigue wash over him. It was early in their training session but he felt drunk without a drop of alcohol. His head felt heavier than lead and his legs, like wet towels.

Nothing he couldn't tough out though.

The team panned out to their usual spots- aside from their new member.  
"So, where do I go now?" she asked, playfully tugging on Nilhis' arm. The Shadow's female midfielder was only too happy to dissolve into giggles and whisper childishly with her new fellow player.  
It personally made Sinedd sick to see a perfectly good, serious player reduced to the psyche of a bubble-headed girly girl by that disruptive little newbie.

"It's a female conspiracy," Fulmugus grunted to Sinedd as he assumed his new position.  
Sinedd, in turn, couldn't help but laugh a little. It was clearly a case of sour grapes: Nilhis had another girl-player to hang around for once and so Fulmugus was feeling the bite of the lack of attention she normally lavished on him.  
"She's probably really pretty by their standards," Sinedd though offhandedly as he surveyed the pitch in front of him, including the white-haired, red-eyed player... that the captain behind him secretly lusted after.

And had been lusting after for the last two years or so, Sinedd recalled, with a smirk remembering what Kai had told him.  
(Well, the Shadows weren't so "share-y, share-y" they could just as well get bitchy if they wanted to).

The whistle sounded. Play began.  
Like dancers, the wraith-like players flitted across the pitch. The ball ricocheted between them like a silver coin.  
Each time, Sinedd pushed himself harder. Every single time the ball came between his ankles he felt like he had to prove himself worthy to hold it there. Hang on, prove himself? No. Sinedd knew he was worthy- at this stage he'd have to be- and was more than deserving of being next to all his fellow players on the pitch.

Well, almost all of them.

Ebony stuck a pass from another brown-haired player and swung around an attacker with the same "fluid clumsiness" she had brought to her trial. Watching her play was awkward but for some reason, still worth watching all the same.  
Nilhis got the ball of her in a single, effortless kick and slid past to land a perfect goal in the clone-keeper's net.

"Nice work Nilhis! You'll need nicer work than that for a real goalie though! Ebony! More aggression please! Don't make me or my players regret letting you on this team!"

"Too late," muttered Sinedd under his breath.  
Fulmugus laughed. "We wouldn't have had a choice anyway...," he added, striding over to his new position. "Politics and such."

"What are you babbling about? Politics?"  
"Yeah," Fulmugus replied, nonchalantly staring ahead as the two of them crouched. "Remember when Coach was asking about blondie's father? Well, turns out that her daddy is a member of the council of Shade and a diplomat at the Obian Moon talks."

"Wait!" Sinedd hissed, watching the next ball materialise in Kai's hands. "Her dad is one of your kind? Then why the hell doesn't she look-...?"  
"Her mommy is from your home planet, Snow-balls. The council of Shade fund the Galactik Football team here so..."

A tiny speck of curiosity for the fact that she her heritage did indeed lie with Akillian roots but that was nothing compared to the anger that suddenly hit Sinedd like a ton of cement bricks.  
"Her daddy bought her way on to this team? Fucking hell..."

Smog burned around players and they crouched further in anticipation, watching Kai leaning back to throw from the goal.  
His eyes somehow found the girl, he now had a full blown reason to despise. He thought of all the troubles he had gone through to get where he was, all the hardships, all the restless training.  
And now that thing gets in because her dad simply said so?

Sinedd pulsed forward with the smog, appearing above the pitch, right over the ball in mid-flight. His stomach clenched as he dropped down through the air , whistling downwards and catching the ball against his shins in one blast of the black, toxic flux.  
He bit his lip and sucked air through his teeth, just to quench the starved and dry feeling in his lungs. He dribbled past one player, then two.

He disappeared with the smog a few inches from the penalty box and before Kai could even blink in his team-mate's direction, the ball was spinning in the back of the net with a tail of smog shimmering behind it.

"Good work Sinedd. Keep it up."

He high-fived one of his fellow players and shot a glare at Ebony, who was fiddling with a little silver chain around her neck, eyes diverted.

"See? That's skill. You don't belong here if you can't pull off a move like that," he sneered into the back of her neck as he passed.

She turned to him, smiling. "Mind if I borrow it, sometime?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"  
"I'll take that as a "no" then."

"Sinedd! Ebony!" Artegor shouted into the mikes. "Stop chatting and get back to your positions!"

The ball was stolen this time, by Nilhis.  
She wrestled for a moment with Fulmugus and then swerved past him to get to mid-field, streaking like a black and neon green comet. She dodged a tackle and swiftly passed to Ebony. Sinedd's eyes narrowed. "Ok, then...let me show you what football players really play like..."

He crouched and went in for a tackle, forcing her under his silhouette. He was a good head taller than her and intimidating in size, not to mention ruthless in trying to wrench the ball from her control.

He could hear her nervous, quickened breaths each time she spun around to stop the ball from becoming his and she could hear his ragged, deep ones.  
But neither was going to give it up easy.

"Ebony! Pass it!"

"I don't need to," Sinedd heard her mutter into her ear-piece.  
He gave a cruel laugh. "Oh? Is that right?" Another stab at the ball under her foot. "Well how-?"

For a brief moment, green eyes met violet over a coyly turned shoulder. Then the girl before him dissolved into a haze of black.  
Sinedd whipped around, only to see her re-appear right above the penalty box with the ball in her possession. Her kick was weak in under the pressure-loaded gravity that she clearly wasn't used to, but it still soared into the net just an inch out of Kai's grasp.

Ebony landed, her legs in a deep bend and smiling childishly in Artegor's praise that was pouring through the intercom. Nilhis gave her an admiring punch in the shoulder and despite the annoyance of being scored against, even Kai looked grudgingly impressed.

Sinedd snapped his jaw shut and stormed over to her in fury. "That was my scoring technique!"

"Well, you said you didn't mind if I used it."  
"Since when can you use the smog!?"  
She snorted. "That? I've been able to do that since I was a kid. Why? How long did it take you to pick it up?"

"That's enough small-practice," Artegor announced. "Now let's try your official positions versus a holo-team."

Sinedd and Ebony gave each other one last angry glare before reluctantly dispersing with the other players.

"The line up is as follows. Kai in goal...Tarth and Xerxes on defence...Fulmugus and Nilhis in the mid-field ...and Sinedd and Ebony as strikers..."

"No way!" Sinedd blurted out angrily, despite knowing that this situation would be inevitable anyway. "No! I am not playing beside that!"

Ebony glowered at him. "Fine then, more room on the field for me!"

"The two of you will bloody-well play beside each other if you want to continue playing with this team! I'm the coach, I make the decisions of who plays where and I decide that you two are playing together! So play nicely or so help me..."

"Fine, fine," groaned Sinedd. "Just stay out of my way."

"As long as you don't get in mine," came her irritated reply as the two of them turned to face the goal.

"Now we'll have to play two friendlys before the start of Blitz, as etiquette dictates. I'll be arranging one for you in the upcoming week. For now, let's see how you all handle our friends, the Lightnings."

The pitch shifted and suddenly, tall, sparkling, blue players appeared before them. The holo-Lightnings walked to their places, led by a grinning holographic Warren. Sinedd had a brief mental tryst, remembering the ferocity this smiling, gentle giant had brought with him in the sphere when faced with Rocket. It sort of proved that the right kind of pressure could turn anyone totally feral on the pitch. Even "role-models" like Warren.

Sinedd sauntered over, standing opposite the Galactik god's hologram himself. He stared straight into those plain blue eyes and broad azure shoulders and reminded himself why he was better than them. He had worked harder. He deserved this.  
The ball materialised between them.  
The two crouched again, like wild animals ready to pounce.  
One...  
Two...  
Three...

The ball rocketed upward, the two players in its wake.

Sinedd scored, about ten minutes into their practice game.  
The ball was hurled from the goal and Nilhis battled past Warren to secure ball control for the Shadows.  
The holographic players were nothing in comparison to the real thing but the Lightnings' flux, the Charge, was real enough to be a bitch to play around.  
Fulmugus dribbled around the Lightning's steely defence and sent a pass flying up front.

"Got it."  
"I got it!"

What happened next did well and truly deserve a replay on Artegor's screen. Sinedd made an epic leap for the ball, fuelled by the force of his flux but Ebony had already disappeared and reappeared in mid air at his side.

**THUMP.  
**The two players collided in mid-air, Ebony's shoulder deciding to get intimate with Sinedd's ribcage.  
Smog exploded around them both as the ball spun in the air above their heads. In the confusion, they fell back to earth and crashed down into the green glass below. The other players walked over hesitantly at first, to check if the two, grunting, groaning players were still conscious. But they were sent back, reeling and trying to bite back laughter after taking one look at the state they were in.

The pair were lying on their backs in a heap on the pitch. Ebony's head was nicely positioned in Sinedd's lap and somehow Sinedd's legs had become neatly threaded between hers.  
Both of them took a minute or so, nursing their newly formed wounds and looking around blearily to realise what it was exactly that their team-mates found so funny.

Sinedd let out a cry of indignancy and shoved her away from him, staggering to his feet and roughly grabbing Ebony's arm when she managed to get to her feet too.

"What the hell was that!?"  
"It's called "getting the ball" last time I checked!"

He growled through gritted teeth. "That ball was **mine**. Stay off my side of the pitch!"  
"Your side of the pitch?" She let out a harsh, over-exaggerated shout of laughter. "Sorry, but I don't see your name on it! And besides, I was at the ball before you was!"

He took a step towards her, hissing into her face like a cobra, his violet eyes narrowing. "You stay out of my way or you'll regret ever stepping on to this field..."

She shuffled back a little but her tone was taunting. "Is that a threat?"

Suddenly a siren blared, signalling the end of training.  
"That's it!" Artegor shouted. "All of you, out and into the showers! Nice first day, Ebony..."  
Sinedd wiped a last stinging drop of sweat from his upper lip and massaged a fresh bruise on his neck, absent –mindedly before turning back to the girl beneath him with the air of a school-master about to punish a naughty school-child.  
"I mean it, bitch. Stay off my side of the pitch and if you ever pull a stunt like that again..."  
"You'll do what? Get jealous because Coach just favours me over you?"

He snarled. "You're not even worth the effort. Mine or his." With that he shoved past her, digging his elbow firmly into her shoulder.  
He needed to beat D'Jok this time and cement himself into the eyes of the Zaelion Galaxy as the all-star he truly was.  
And that wasn't going to happen if blondie was still on the team. Maybe he couldn't change Artegor's mind, but he could sure change hers....make her want to leave.  
He smirked to himself, thinking about it.

The players stepped on to the hover-craft, to take them off the training field. Sinedd pertly leaned down to Ebony's ear, his nose just brushing one of her perfume scented ringlets.  
"And by the way," he whispered. "I would appreciate it if you didn't try to inhale my flux again. It's not for kiddies and you're going to have hell on this planet trying to survive your own..."

* * *

_It was times like this that always left Ebony wondering why the hot guys were always either assholes or psychotic head-cases...and why it was that she always got saddled with both.  
_

_She couldn't let him get in her way though. She had to be here. She couldn't let Papa down, not this time.  
She sat on the edge of her bed, shelled of her jersey and looking at a photo of the alien man who looked nothing like her, who didn't really know a lot about his own daughter at all.  
Ebony sighed and checked the television phone. She was due to check in with him in an hour. _

_A sudden lustful burning erupted in her throat again and this time it was too strong to resist.  
Ebony ripped the drawer of her bed-side open.  
_

_"As if I don't have enough to worry about...," she muttered, scrabbling around through heaps of paper. "Papa breathing down my neck...fucking staying on this team without that (cute) jerk in my face...staying bloody thin- why don't these fucking Shadow's players ever eat?-....and now my hair is a mess..."  
She fumbled for a tiny canister of pills and held it up to her eyes.  
_

_Her body had been screaming for its fix ever since she had used the smog on the pitch. She knew using that little talent she had inherited from her native father would set off the cravings but...oh well.  
She wrenched the lid open and siphoned out a coveted little white capsule.  
She held it up to her lips, just touching its smooth little underside, like Persephone and her pomegranate or Pandora and her box. Bordering on the edge of sin. _

_Without giving it a second thought, she slapped the pill into her mouth and swallowed it straight down, savouring the sweet, sweet artificial happiness it brought. The wonderful, artificial smog that pulsed down her throat. _

_"Ebony?"  
She snapped herself out of it to see Nilhis at the door. "You coming to the common room?"  
Ebony ran her fingers through her hair and quickly stashed the canister back in the drawer. "Oh, no. I have to call my dad and well, I'm not feeling that great to be honest." _

_Nilhis gave her a nod and a smile. "First day is always hard."  
Then the skeletal Shadow was gone. _

_"That was a close one," thought Ebony, just before the television phone began to ring._

* * *

Somewhere in the bowls of the Oeon Planet that Genesis orbited, a man in a purple suit sat in a seedy apartment, watching television.

"Arcadia sports here! With me, Callie Mystic! Well, football fans, I have some hot new gossip for you! Following the suspension of Shadow's striker, Sheirk, for...erm...complications with the Xenon team, it seems Artegor Nexus has recruited a new player! As for the identity of this new striker, that is unknown, he could hardly out-shine the rising star that is Sinedd! This year the former-snow kid, star of the Shadows will play..."

The man's grin grew as an image of the jet black haired Shadow prince was flashed across the screen. The wrinkles embedded into the man's forehead arched under his grey hair and every few minutes he glanced down to check that the metal cases at his side were still there.  
Then back to the screen.

"Ah Sinedd...my old friend...we'll be meeting again, sooner than you might think..."


	3. Friction

_Go to Chapter 1 for the disclaimer and my policies on using my character.  
Also, the titular song and summary are indeed copyrighted to Kelly Clarkson as they are references to her song "Addicted" which partly inspired this fic._

_Huge thanks go out to reviewers **LoveMyEnemy, FemaleSpock and Turkmen**. You guys are great.  
Now on to chapter 3...._

_(A song for this chapter? Stay Home by Self. )  
_

* * *

It had been a week of non-stop training, set to build nerves and muscle and shatter spirits and backbones.  
And **she **was still with them too.

If there was one thing Sinedd hated about her, it was her goddamn stubbornness.

Another thing Sinedd hated about her?  
Her flirting.

Not with him, of course, whom she avoided like the plague, (either out of fear or just plain arrogance), but every other male player on the team. She would innocently "trip" over one of the obstacle cones on the pitch, falling on to her knees, feign a few tears and allow herself to be helped up by a few gentleman-ly fellow players.  
She would bat her eyes like some demented little Lolita and gush out gratitude like the spoiled coquette she was.

"Oh thanks, guys! Seriously, it's ok, I'm fine! Man, I am such a klutz!"

"Such a slut, more like," Sinedd muttered at her back, glad that Artegor never bothered to turn on the head-sets when they were just doing dribbling practice. "It's pathetic...faking injuries just to..."

He paused, thinking for a moment, reconsidering. "Well, at least I never did it just to get attention..."

"Did you say something?" Fulmugus asked Sinedd, slinking over after offering Ebony some assistance.  
Sinedd glowered at him. "That's sick man. How can you stand to be around that?"  
He gestured over to the girl, face emaciated into a scowl.

Fulmugus gave a deep hearty chuckle and playfully rolled the ball around beneath his foot. "Aw, come on. She's not that bad...the others have gotten used to her..."

Sinedd snorted and felt his muscles slacken with relief when the training whistle blew, even if his mind was screaming to continue with their fierce practice.  
He wiped the thoughts from his mind and let himself go blank again, switching off until its next feed of raw adrenaline, (and smog).

His black hair ran smooth and glacial beneath the nozzle of an icy shower. He teased his fringe back with his fingers and rolled his shoulders around a few times to soften the goosebumps that has started to dot his skin.  
Sinedd's mind drifted numbly ahead to their next match.  
Another chance to show...no, not show- remind... the galaxy who the best striker in all of football was.

The training had toughened up, but he was ready for it. Enduring it easily.

Then again, she was a glaring dent in his perfect agenda. Sheirk, her predecessor, had been cool and willing to hang back and let him take the spotlight, respecting his boundaries.  
Ebony on the other hand, was more than willing to dive in front of Sinedd to steal his passes and play practically on his ankles.  
He groaned thinking about their disastrous last session as he pulled his usual hoodie over his head.

"Stay off MY side of the pitch! We've been over this before!!!"  
"I could have taken that pass miles better than you and you know it!"  
"Heh! Yeah, whatever..."

The fact that she could use the smog with no (visible) side-effects didn't help either. He needed Artegor's good side, not his pity...  
He remembered the hundred and one attacks of flux-poisoning he had had during his first week.  
Sinedd could still recall his own reflection in the man's violet glasses as an awkward smile crept across his coach's face.

"Look Sinedd, you'll get through this...you're stronger than that."

Artegor could sympathise with the young man, having been through the same lust for power with a price. Having to understand that in order to be the strongest and the best, sacrifices must be made.  
And he had been his coach's protégé since that very evening after the Red Tigers match, when he looked up out of the snow to see him smiling...smiling and then dangling the keys to his future as a Galactik god in front of his face.

But Sinedd knew he owed him nothing. He was just pointing out the obvious.  
Sinedd belonged to nobody.  
No attachments.  
No loyalties and no needless protection or sentiments.

He fastened the khaki pants loosely around his waist and took one last look at his glowing reflection in his bathroom mirror, staring intensely back at him.  
"Yeah," he thought. "That's the exact look I'm gonna give D'jok next time I see him on the pitch."

With that cleared up, he sauntered off to the common room. It was soundless as it always was late into the afternoon. The other players had normally cleared off home to their parents or were gone out to hang around the city.  
It wasn't like they had never invited him or anything... it was just that Sinedd preferred to stay in...And away from those piranhas, commonly referred to as photographers.  
He valued his fame. However he also valued his personal space.

He strolled in through the automatic doors, ready to fling himself out across the couch and take in the deafening silence that he would never get, had he stayed with the Snow Kids....

Then his peace was shattered by a sharp, shrill, painfully familiar sound coming from across the room.  
She's not gone. Typical...  
Sinedd stopped in his tracks, glaring across the room, only to see that Ebony had comfortably positioned herself on top of a cabinet, her knee perched on Artegor's stack of holo-magazines, as she delicately applied another layer of mascara to her already-sooty lashes.  
She was humming a tuneless little melody between her over-glossed lips too that made Sinedd want to drive his head into a wall, (repeatedly).

Her hair was a little fluffier than usual.  
Sinedd could vaguely recall something Fulmugus said about her being attacked by the paparazzi- all pining for a shot of her after Artegor had announced the identity of his "mysterious new striker."

He just couldn't wait for that tiny bit of fame to dissolve when Arcadia Sports got a load of how much she sucked on the pitch in comparison to him.

He strolled over, searching for the TV. remote and mouth burning with the sting of his despising of the girl.  
"You're going to need a lot more make-up than that, honey. I can still see the rest of your face."

She ignored him and went on brushing, tentatively coating each eyelash in shimmery, black powder.  
She went on humming too. Her voice was falsetto- high and pitchy like a canary.

"So what's wrong with your bathroom mirror that you have to turn the common room into your own salon? Did it crack when it heard your singing?"  
Ebony smiled sweetly. "No Sinedd, dearest. Just when it saw your face! Besides, the lighting out here is better any way."

He scowled, taking a step towards her so that his reflection rose above hers in the mirror.  
"Look," he said, voice growing dangerously low. "We play our first friendly of the season in a week. I don't know what the hell Artegor sees in you but you had better stay out of my way and I mean it this time..."

"So the last eight times didn't count then?"

Her tone was driving him insane.  
"You may have all the others wrapped around your little finger, princess but I don't care how many times you bat your eyelashes, swing your hips or how rich your daddy happens to be. You don't deserve to be here and if you do anything to ruin my place in the spot-light, I will make you regret it, you little hybrid..."

Maybe bringing her racial background into it was uncalled for, but then again, as far as Sinedd was concerned, someone needed to put her where she belonged.

Ebony looked at him coolly, screwing the cap back on to the mascara and taking a breath.  
"So is that just a thing with you then? You know, threatening little girls who get to you? Or is it just because you can't have them?"  
Sinedd stared at her in numb disbelief, not knowing what exactly she was getting at.

She went on.  
"I remember going to see this one match you guys had against the Snow Kids. You spent half your time harassing that defender...what's-her-name...Mei, because she wouldn't stay out of your way. So tell me, Sinedd, was it just that you were pissed off because you were getting your ass beat by a girl...or was it because you fancied her ass but knew that she was already with that D'jok guy? Heh, another thing he has that you don't...maybe he's just better than you..."

"SHUT UP!"  
Sinedd's fist flew out and buried into Ebony's shoulder, causing the girl to stumble backwards, her eyes dilated in shock.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you never to hit a lady!?" she wheezed.  
"You're no fucking lady..."

"WHAT IS GOING ON!?"

Artegor was standing in the door way, fists clenched beneath his red sleeves and face contorted in rage. "The two of you, in my office, now!" he breathed, agitated beyond belief.

The two players looked at each other.  
"Now look what you've gotten us into..."

* * *

Artegor Nexus stood at his desk, glowering down at the girl and boy who sat before him.  
"Let's get this straight, both of you. I don't know what kind of problem you have with each other and frankly I couldn't give a damn. But I expect you both to put your petty differences aside and stop this pathetic fighting and arguing because all it's going to do is impair the team for this tournament!"

He stopped for a moment to take a breath and then whipped around to his first victim.  
"Sinedd! You have been on this team for a long time now and I expect a lot more maturity and professionalism from one of my best players! And save your bloody aggression for the other team, not your team-mates!"

Then he rounded on his next.  
"Ebony! You are new to this team and I expect you to respect the players who are more experienced than you and for flux sake, stop all these horrible insults and save your mouth for the press-conferences AFTER we've won the tournament. Your father will be spoken to otherwise..."

The man stopped for a moment to breathe again before sitting down slowly and saying: "Now both of you, shake hands and say sorry..."

The two of the gawped at him for a second, not knowing whether to take him seriously or not.  
"If you two are going to act like children," he proclaimed. "Then I will treat you like children. Now, shake hands and say sorry."

Reluctantly and somewhat hesitantly, Sinedd turned to Ebony and offered her a very tense handshake. She accepted, manicured nails wrapping tightly around fingerless gloves. The two squeezed down for a moment, surely visualising the crushing the other's hand into dust..., (what else could they have been thinking...?)

"Now say sorry."  
Ebony groaned and muttered a careless sounding: "Sorry."  
"Sorry," Sinedd echoed in the same monotone, not meaning it in the slightest and whether he was fooled or not, this seemed to be satisfactory for Artegor.  
"That's good team-mates," he commented, smirking. "Now leave and if I hear about you two fighting again, consider yourselves bench-warmers for the duration of the season. We have our first friendly against the Wambas next week..."

Both knew Artegor couldn't really afford to suspend them both but both knew that he would find some way to make them suffer.  
"Like making us room together...ugh," Sinedd thought with a shudder.

And with that in mind, they were gone, without a word to each other and off in separate directions.

Artegor waited until the door had closed behindthem to turn to his holo-phone and stab in his coveted one-way call number for Akillian. The screen illuminated, answered by a huge, hulking man with kind eyes and ivory hair. A familiar window with snow-topped mountain scenery back-dropped him from behind.  
"Hello, Artegor? Is that you, old friend?"  
He smiled weakly. "Hello there Aarch, it's nice to see you."  
And he meant it. The two had once been deadly enemies and rivals but Aarch had helped him through a tough time, even giving him medical attention and a job. New understandings had eradicated old feuds and now the two men were back to being the same friendly comrades they had been when they both played for the Shadows, so many years before.

"So how are things with the Kids?" he asked cordially, for the sake of politeness. "How are my old friends Mark and Yuki doing? And my old pal D'jok?"

Artegor still liked to reminisce back on the time he had become an assistant coach for the Snow Kids.  
"Good, good," Aarch smiled. "Business as usual and Mark and Yuki are settling in nicely- really becoming part of the pack and D'jok? Well D'jok is the same whirlwind he's always been." He chuckled. "What about your team, how are the Shadows? I heard you have a new player?"

Artegor sighed. "Indeed. Ebony is her name. She's not exactly a native, however she is talented. But all the same, things have been less than productive with her."  
"Oh?" Aarch raised an eyebrow. "Not problems with the smog I hope?" He shivered, thinking back on the things he had heard about Sinedd's attacks and even more so, the kind of torture he had experienced with the toxic flux back when he had played for the Shadows.

"No, no," Artegor said, shaking his black, gelled curls. "Her mother is from Akillian but her father is native to this planet- a politician, actually- so she can use the smog fairly well..."  
"Akillian, eh?" Aarch commented with interest. "She and Sinedd must be getting on like a house on fire."

Artegor rubbed his forehead. "You would think..." He gave an exasperated sigh. "To be honest, that's the problem. The two are constantly fighting, biting at each other for attention and getting them to co-operate is like pulling teeth...painful and more complicated than it should be. They're just so different yet alike...they hate each other."

Aarch frowned. "Hmmm, that is quite a problem. And she's playing near him, yes?"  
"Right opposite him actually. They're my two strikers and I have considered swapping their positions JUST to keep them out of each other's hair but then..." He sighed again. "That's hardly practical with Blitz right around the corner..."

"I wish there was something I could do to help," came Aarch's deep voice, so friendly despite the fact that Artegor was still a rival coach. "Conflict between players can be a tough thing to deal with, trust me, I know. Just be thankful none of yours have run off yet!"

The two couldn't help but share a small laugh, Artegor nodding approvingly at first but then dropping his head again.  
"Ugh...teenagers and their attitudes..."  
"Tell me about it."

Aarch smiled thoughtfully. "Well, the only advice I can give you, Artegor, is to leave them alone for a bit. You'd be surprised. These kids have a way of sorting these things out for themselves! And with Sinedd and Ebony, who knows...maybe in time they'll...find a common ground?"

"I hope you're right Aarch, I really hope you're right."

_

* * *

_

"Sir, the Technoid representative is here."  
"Send him in."

_"Good morning to you sir."  
"And same to you, Mr-?" _

_"Harris, sir."  
"Ah right and you've come as a chairman for Technoid from Duke Maddox?" _

_"Indeed..."  
" According to your file here, Duke Maddox thinks highly of you, Harris. I'm pleased to have you as a representative here on Shadows. But don't you mind spending so much time on a foreign planet?" _

_"No, sir...heh, I don't have much family to leave behind I'm afraid. What about you? Does the esteemed Shadows diplomat have a family?" _

_"Yes, actually. Two daughters. Viola is at school and Ebony has just become the new striker on our planet's national football team." _

_"Oh how interesting! Are you a fan of football, sir?"  
"Not exactly, but I'm happy she's finally doing something productive, (like her sister), for once...and you?" _

_"I quite enjoy a good match every now and then. It must be exciting to have your council fund the team too...being able to visit the pitch every now and then, watch the team train..." _

_"Hmm...that reminds me, I promised Artegor Nexus I'd drop by tomorrow to check up on our planet's best investment..."  
"...and to watch your daughter, sir?" _

_"Yes, that too. I don't suppose you would mind coming down with me, have a look at the new barriers your company has just sent us? Maybe bring a few of your Techno-droid friends out there? You know what photographers are like..."_

_"Yes sir, it would be my honour...you have no idea how **valuable** an opportunity this will be for me..."_

_The tall Shadowarian man's red eyes never fell upon the eerily satisfied grin that came across Harris' face as he turned to leave._

_So yeah! Thanks for reading. Hope you've enjoyed.  
Read, review, comment and criticise as you see fitting. ^^_


	4. Turning Point

_And this would make four..._

_(A song for this chapter? Battlefield by Jordin Sparks- {because the lyrics particularly suit this chapter and not just for the obvious pairing either. There's more than one type of "love" implied here ;)}) _

* * *

They argued about everything.

And that wasn't even breaking their promise to Artegor in the slightest. If he never _saw_ or _heard_ them bickering, it was hardly any threat to their positions on the team and no threat to their coach's mental state.

To put it simply:  
"What Artegor didn't know wouldn't hurt them."

Their "progress" was rocky on the pitch and even worse behind closed doors. Neither could resist the chance to take a nice stab at the other whenever they got the chance. They squabbled over everything- from team tactics to the way the other _ate_ and from use of the common room to what TV programme they watched after training.

Watching them fight had become a great source of entertainment for the other players. Fulmugus and the team would delightedly turn off the TV and grab a front row seat every time they could sense one of their rows about to start.  
The funny thing was that they never actually got _involved _in the arguments or tried to resolve them. They just watched like any good audience would, laughing and joking at intervals.

The two were up to tear at each other like rabid wolves when they wanted to, whenever, wherever, regardless of whom their audience was. That evening was no different.

It was a chilly afternoon on planet Shadow. The black hole Obscurantis that gave the Shadows their flux was in its second cycle, sending winds piercing across the sparse, rocky landscape.  
The players were sprawled out in the common room before practice, enjoying the last of the artificial heat and swapping the latest gossip they had picked up around the planet.  
All, the players that was, except for Kai who was locking wits with a Rykers girl in a game of online chess and Ebony who was gazing out the open window, enjoying a cigarette.  
The other players (strictly excluding her buddy Sinedd) never complained about the smoke or the smell, being used to all kinds of poisonous gas they had been born amid on their planet. Besides, they weren't even tobacco cigarettes either- they were speciality rolls. One of her fingers was gently looping around the silver chain she wore around her neck and the others cradled the white paper tube.  
She never mentioned what exactly was in them, (or why it was so necessary that she had at least two a day), but the black clouds that poured from her nostrils and lips at each drag and floated out the window in wispy tar-coloured puffs reminded Sinedd of their own flux, the smog. He glared at her hazy silhouette from the rim of his cyber-magazine, trying to quell the urge to go over there, snatch the cigarette from her hand and stub it out on her milky forehead.

He didn't need to.

As if his eyes could say that alone, the moment she caught his gaze, she crushed the roll between her fingers and flicked it out the window. It may only have been his imagination that a spray of pink blush had splayed across her cheeks or that her pupils had dilated to twice their normal size but either way, something about her looked weirder than usual.  
"Back in a sec," she announced to the room, smoothing her track-suit as she stood up.

Sinedd raised an eyebrow. "Going to shower, loser? You'd need one after stinking this joint up."  
A few players chuckled in response.  
Ebony opened her mouth, perhaps to retaliate, but before she could, something small and plastic slipped from her pocket and clattered to the carpet beneath them.

Ebony shot to the floor to grab it but Sinedd's eyes were faster than her outstretched hand.  
And those violet eyes widened- catching sight of what was written on that tiny canister that she tried so eagerly to hide.

"Metholine?" he snorted aloud. "Isn't that a drug? Like an _illegal _drug?"  
The other players stopped laughing and stared.  
She ran her fingers back through her tousled curls and shoved the canister back into her pocket.

"I need them."  
"Oh yeah, I bet you do...I bet Artegor would love to hear how _much _you "need" them."  
Ebony's voice became reedy. "He knows that I have them already."  
"Oh really?" Sinedd questioned, trying to pierce any bluff she may have been trying with him. Experience with all varieties of foster-family and social worker back on Akillian had taught him to recognise a good liar.

"Yes really. I have them as prescribed painkillers. Without them, the smog would probably drive me as insane and loopy as you."  
Something in Sinedd hit a chord, like a piano wire being slowly wound to breaking point. "What's that supposed to mean?"  
Ebony gave a cruel cackle of laughter. "I hear you every single night, crying out in your sleep and writhing on the pitch when you think no one's looking! _Harris!_ _It's Bleylock!" _she mimicked. _"He's coming back!_ Who's Bleylock? Your boyfriend?"

The other players were reduced to sheer silence.  
Sinedd stood up, lip curled in contempt and eyes dangerously narrow. "So that makes you nosy as well as a stalker, a lousy player _and _a junkie," he sneered. "You don't deserve to be on this team! Your daddy had to buy his precious little princess a spot here, didn't he?"

"I deserve to be here AS MUCH if not MORE than you do! And for the record, at least my "daddy" cares about me! While I haven't seen sight or sound of _your _parents! Don't they care about you?" she taunted.  
Sinedd's voice reduced to a coarse, fierce whisper, his eyes suddenly intense. "My parents are _dead_."

Ebony's eyes grew wide, her face suddenly melting like candle-wax and entire body seemed to shrink. "I-I...Sinedd, I didn't...I had no..."

Before anyone could say anything, Artegor's voice rang out across the room on the intercom. **"All of you, suit up and report down to the main pitch for training, now! I won't ask twice." **

Sinedd shoved Ebony out of the way, giving her a deadly glare as he passed.  
If looks could kill...

* * *

"That was harsh," Fulmugus panted, jogging back to the side of the pitch to re-join Sinedd.  
"Oh come on," Sinedd laughed, the pit of his stomach still burning from earlier. "He's never that hard on you anyway and you scored on each try!"

Artegor liked to take them one on one on days like this and allow the rest of the team to watch from the touch-lines. He would stand in the seating area and coach them from a micro-phone- his idea of a personal touch.  
"I wasn't talking about training," Fulmugus grunted back, shooting a quick grin at Nilhis down the line. "I was talking about you and-"

"Ebony!" called Artegor. "You're up!"

"...that was a harsh one, you guys had..."  
Sinedd ignored the statement, glaring across at her from the sidelines. Artegor was criticising her again.  
"Ebony, your aim is excellent but your actual shooting might just be up to scratch if you put the as much effort into your kicks as you do into doing your make-up...ah! Mr Appex!"

Artegor disappeared for a moment, into the steps of the stand and out of sight.

"More press," thought Sinedd, irritably.  
"So do you think she's on something?" Kai whispered to the rest of the group, nodding over to the girl delicately toeing the edge of ball as if she expected it to bite. "Like those drugs...?"  
Artegor came back into view, this time followed by three figures.

"Well whatever it is," Nilhis added. "There is something up with...hey, what's the matter with her!?"

Ebony's eyes had gone huge and her face suddenly dowsed itself a burning red. Sinedd delighted in seeing the terror that had suddenly been implanted there...as for the reason...

"That's the Diplomat, Appex. Ebony's dad."

"Carry on!" shouted Artegor, down to her. "And pick it up a bit!"  
Shakily, she dribbled back to the goal and managed to send a weak shot into the back of the net with no smog whatsoever. Her eyes looked like they were staring straight through the ball.  
Clearly her father's presence was unnerving her to extremes.

"Yeah," Sinedd thought, looping his fingers into his jersey with satisfaction. "Fail. Crash and burn for daddy now, little girl. Show him what a waste of space you really are."

The other players were more interested in their visitors.  
"I saw Technoid robots outside! Heh! What are those tin-cans here for?"  
"Don't know...who's the girl up there?"  
"Probably her sister."  
"He's not even looking at her. I don't know why she's so nervous."

Sinedd looked up.  
The man looked nothing like his blonde daughter. He was as Shadow-born as the other players on the team and they shared nothing in common other than icy pale skin, black rimmed eyes and long limbs. The younger girl at his side, staring nonchalantly down at her sibling, looked a lot more like him- her hair white and black with a flat nose and red-tinted eyes.  
His eyes then fell upon the third figure.

_The back of his head...  
Grey hair...  
A trim purple suit upon squared shoulders... _

_A pair of glittering eyes and a grin flashing down in his direction....  
Eyes that were so familiar... _

_Suddenly in his mind, those eyes turned green.  
Bleylock was standing in front of him again, handing him the golden disc. Telling him to destroy all the fluxes in the galaxy. To stop another war. "Like the one that killed mom and dad....but they said...he was only...using me..."_

Sinedd finally regained his breath, temples pulsing wildly in pain.

"Man, are you ok?" asked Kai, clapping a hand to his back.  
The eleventh player on the Shadow's team only then realised that he was doubled over in pain and when his vision cleared, all he could see was his own sweating, trembling reflection in the red glass.  
He had never been so happy in his entire life to hear Artegor announce:

"Practice is cancelled for now! Return to the main building!"

He could have sworn on the way out, through the stands, he heard someone say his name.

* * *

Sinedd leaned into the sink, splashing more icy water upon his face and savouring the silence in the training room bathroom.  
The memories unearthed by his row with Ebony, the smog's overbearing power, the isolation he felt from his team-mates and the heat of another intensive training day all combined to break his usually iron self-control and a wild anger suddenly racked his body.

He stared blearily up at his reflection, glaring at every shining drop of water that clung to his pale, sullen face, laced his eyelashes and dripped from his wiry black hair.  
"You need to be the best," he told his reflection through gritted teeth. "Pull it together."  
For a moment, tears attacked his eyes, but he swallowed them back with vicious determination. He had buried those memories a long time ago and there was no way he was letting them grow back again.  
Sinedd lived by two moral codes of his own design:  
(a) Take care of number one-yourself- and you come before everyone else.  
(b) Don't let the past destroy the present.

He scrabbled around the sink, feeling for a dry piece of tissue paper to dry his eyes with but then stopped and wrenched his wet eyes apart, feeling something strange beneath his fingertips.  
"Huh?"  
It was a looked like a little necklace...a _familiar _necklace.

He held the long silver chain up before his eyes, letting it sparkle in the light and cast tiny rainbows against the mirror. A tiny, plain charm in the shape of a star hung from the delicate coils.  
"I know where I've seen this thing before," he thought, knuckles whitening around the clasp. "This is that stupid, cheap thing that _she_ wears to all the time..."

Sinedd smirked and dangled the necklace above the drain, imagining the priceless look on Ebony's face when he revealed to her exactly what he had done with her precious trinket.  
He slackened his fingers, tempting himself...and then stopped, his dark smile slowly growing.  
"No...I have a better idea..."

* * *

Maybe it was just a cruel irony that Ebony's room was only down the hall from his, (or just plain cruelty from Artegor's point of view...it just gave the two of them as many opportunities as they wanted to, to complain about each other's snoring/sleep-talking.)

The rooming with the Shadows was different to that on Akillian; as far as they were concerned, there were no "roomies" or "sleepover-buddies." It was strictly one player per room.  
And Ebony's door was wide open, a tongue of yellowish light cast out across the hallway.

Sinedd slid past, peering inside, eyes glinting under the dim amber glow.  
The room was neat- like Compulsive Obsessive Disorder- neat, the kind you'd see on one of those home decorating magazines. But the bed was still un-made and the wardrobe door was slung lazily open.  
Then the room's erratic occupant made her appearance from the bathroom door.  
She paced across the room, frantic and mumbling to herself. Sinedd stepped back a little, eyes relaxing.  
She was still wearing the vest-top she had been wearing earlier only her lower half was clad in nothing but a pair of pin-striped lilac panties.  
She bent over, leaning across the bed to rifle through her bedside table drawer. The vest-top stretched, revealing a bridge of sickly, white skin...with an odd looking little mark....

"So," began Sinedd. "Does daddy know about the tattoo?"

Ebony let out a cry and whipped back around, hands clapping over the swirling black symbol on her lower back.  
"You...you pervert! Get out of here! What are you?!"

"The door was wide open, _slut_. You're the one walking around in your undies."  
She turned beet-red and seized a pair of shorts from the floor, dragging them up around her waist and choking out something like: "I'm going to get Artegor..."

Sinedd grinned. "Before you do, you may want to consider a little leverage I may have over you."  
"Is that right?"  
"Looking for this?"

He dangled the little silver necklace in front of her face, watching in glee as her eyes shot open.  
"Give it to me."

She leapt forward.  
He leapt back, forcing her to stumble into his shadow.

"GIVE it to me, Sinedd!"  
"Watch it, blondie," he sneered. "One bad move from you and I'll rip this thing apart here and now."  
She stiffened, folding her arms and biting her lip. "What do you want from me?"

Oh yes. Revenge would be sweet.  
"Stay off my side of the pitch in future, quit whining to Artegor about everything-it's pissing me off and if you EVER bring up my parents in a conversation again, you won't live to regret it..."  
She frowned. "Fine. Now give it to me..."

"Ah...tell me I'm the best."  
"What?"  
"Tell me that I'm the best player on this team."

She gaped at him. "You're not serious...there is no way..."  
Sinedd held up the necklace around his knuckles, holding it under her nose to intimidate.  
Ebony sank her teeth even further into her lip. "Your'ethebest..."

"What was that?"  
"You're the best."  
"You're the best, _what and who_?"  
"You're the best...player on this team, Sinedd."

He grinned, satisfied with his vengeance and thrust the necklace into her hands. Then Sinedd turned for the door.

"Sinedd?"  
"What?!"

"...thank you..."

"You're thanking me?"  
"Yes...for finding my necklace...even if you had to be a total jerk about giving it back. But I won't tell Artegor..."

"You'd better not," he thought, still surprised at her sudden (strained and sour) gratitude.

"So thank you...now get out of my room..."

He raised an eyebrow, taking in one last eyeful of her wonderfully embarrassed face before turning to live. "Whatever, weirdo..."


	5. Unexpected

_Number five! Thank you so much for all the lovely reviews! ^^  
I hope you guys enjoy this one. _

_(A song for this chapter? Fallen Through by Skye Sweetnam...that is one amazing song).  
_

* * *

A week later, the Shadows boarded a space-cruiser to play their first friendly of the season.

It was a hot, humid day on planet Wamba. At that side of the galaxy, the sky was a burnt, raw orange and painted with wisp-like, burgundy clouds. The air was heavy and sticky and the thick emerald vegetation was a frame to the beautifully painted heavens.  
The leaves on the trees shimmered a golden, glossy sap that perfumed the warm air and cast a rainbow glow upon the brown slender branches of the trees when one of the planet's graceful inhabitants flitted across them.  
The Shadows, however, had no time to take in the scenery like mere tourists. They were there for business, publicity and a break-in match to make their participation in the Blitz Tournament official.  
And because of that, the very first thing any of the players got to have a good look at on the planet was the inside of a locker room.

Artegor wasn't as friendly or as attached to the Wambas coach as Aarch so that meant no "pre-match niceties."  
Which was really just code-talk for _"no having to pretend to eat strawberries and marsh spiders for the sake of being polite."  
_Sinedd silently thanked his lucky stars for this, remembering the torture his poor stomach had gone through before playing his first match for the Snow Kids.

At least this time he could cement his attention his attention on the match...without feeling the need to throw up before he could even pull his jersey over his head.

* * *

The giant, make-shift stadium was exploding with sound and excitement. Shadow-fans who had made a pilgrimage across the galaxy to see their home-team and native Wambas alike were packed into the stands and screaming so loud that it was a good thing the pitch was natural turf and not glass....or else it would have shattered.

Artegor's pep-talk still echoing in their ears, the Shadows waited in the entrance bay to be called on to the pitch. Their thick black uniforms were not made for heat and the temperature in the bay was as high and piercing as the tension.  
Fulmugus gave the team his usual speech in an attempt to focus them all, as the players shuffled and sweated in the musky air, letting their ears grow numb to the sound of screams.

Sinedd massaged his temples, clenching the way he always did when he was nervous. It was only the Wambas and he was used to the bubbling anticipation, seething adrenaline and bite of the smog in his throat before each match.  
It was soon painfully clear that his favourite pain in the ass, Ebony, was not.

She was shivering despite the intense heat and despite the firmness in her mouth; her eyes were wide and glassy with fear. She was nervous...it was natural...particularly for her first match.  
Yet even though her stomach was just about ready to twist itself to bursting point, she brushed off any help Nilhis or the other players offered her claiming:  
"Thanks but no thanks. I'm perfectly fine. Never mind me. *insert wink here*"  
Her face said otherwise, Sinedd noted with a sadistic pleasure.

The panicked-looking blonde had had her usual tablet but despite that, she was tense and uneasy. Her new number twelve jersey felt alien against her skin....even if she personally felt that it looked beautiful against her snowy pallor. She had checked her mirror enough times before the match to know.

The biggest punch in the stomach for her was seeing that moody, hot-tempered striker all suited up and stretching confidently before her.  
His jersey stretched tightly around the breadth of his shoulders, alluding to the fine stretch of muscles that lurked beneath. The sloping, human-esque contours of his body were a refreshing change from the slender, wiry bodies of the other players and an almost relaxing sight for Ebony.

As much as his behaviour disgusted her...he was no eye-sore.

Glinting lilac eyes swivelled around to her from under the gauze of a jagged black fringe.  
"What are you looking at?"

Ebony jerked herself out of her trance and gave him a defiant glare. "Just wondering why you bother...you can stretch all you want but it won't make you a better player than me, hot-shot."

Sinedd gave a bloodless laugh that could rocket shivers up anyone's spine. He turned to her lazily as he took a swig from his water bottle. "What's the matter, junkie?"  
He leaned a little closer to her so that his breath licked against her face. "A little nervous before your first match?"

"Fuck you," she muttered, turning away from him to fiddle with her little necklace again.

An alarm sounded off in the room, calling the players on to the loading station.  
"This is a test for your ear-pieces," buzzed Artegor's voice from the mike that rested against Sinedd's earlobe. "Press the inner button if you can hear me."  
Sinedd took that as the cue to psyche himself out as the machine moved. The glow at the end of the tunnel was getting wider and wider, opening out to them.  
He hesitantly stole a nice, long glance at the black and green curves that stood, shaking in front of him. Despite the irritating little bitch that they belonged to.  
It was a refreshing sight even so...a female human body was a rare sight for him now that he lived with the Shadows.

He slapped the thoughts from his head and took a nice, long deep breath.  
_"Time to go and do what I do best...win..." _

Sinedd couldn't resist a quick taunt, whispered into Ebony's flossy ringlets. Her words still rang in his ears...what she had said about his parents...  
_"They cared about me...they did..." _

"Ready to suck at football in front of the entire galaxy?" he hissed. "Are you scared?"

"No," she said coolly, but with a quiver in her voice. "There is one thing bothering me though."  
Fulmugus turned around. "Are you having trouble remembering the plays we went through?"

Ebony shook her head. "You know that little dance thingie that you guys do before each match...are you gonna teach me that or am I just supposed to copy whoever's in front of me?"

* * *

Aarch switched on the television, watching his players chatter about the match that was about to start.  
The players performed their pre-match stances and took up their positions on the field, the Wambas leaping through the air and up past the scoreboard with effortless skill and the Shadows glided to their spots with ghost-like elegance.  
A hush descended over the crowd as a darkened Sinedd and a fiery looking Lun-Zaera crouched around the pit in the centre of the field.

"Well, Artegor, I wish you the best old friend...let's hope this new team of yours pulls together."

* * *

_Three...  
Two...  
One... _

A familiar whistle of air sounded from beneath their feet and the ball shot upward from the chute.  
The Wambas were fast and in just a few moments, the ball was an amber meteor at, (or rather _in_), Wuwambu's feet.  
A vicious cabaret began in mid-field between the Wambas captain and Fulmugus of the Shadows.  
A flash of the smog sent the Shadow's player straight through his adversary and into the mercy of the Wambas defence.

They were hard to keep tabs on when they were near fifty feet up into the wings above their heads but on the ground, the spectral Shadows danced around them with ease on the hard earth.  
The roar sparkled against the smog's harsh mist as the players tussled.  
A few moments later, the first goal was the Shadow's and it was met with a deafening monotonous cry from the crowd.

Sinedd couldn't help but eye the number one the appeared beneath the Shadow icon on the scoreboard above with a little malice.  
They were ahead, but not because of him.  
He needed to show that he was the **best** in their next play.

The ball was flung out from the goal, streaking down the pitch like a comet.  
Sinedd sprang at it, eyes focused like a predator ready to maul its prey. He dodged around the defensive players with two quick flashes of the smog and ignored the pain igniting in his chest.  
The ball was beneath him as he gained height, chest burning as the pitch became tiny beneath him. Aim ready, he swerved to throw a powerful kick in mid air... however he wasn't the only one who did so...

As if someone had hit a replay button of their last training session, Ebony and Sinedd collided in mid air. The ball burst out from beneath them in a spray of black at fell into the hands, (or feet), of Lne-Zaera beneath them.

Their landing wasn't quite so disasterous this time but both players' tempers went off like short fuses. This wasn't a silly little training session. This was _galaxy wide television. _  
"WHAT did I tell you about getting in my way!?" Sinedd shouted, shoving Ebony as hard as he could.  
"I got there BEFORE you did!" she retaliated, giving him a good shove back.

"BOTH OF YOU, GET BACK INTO THE GAME!" Artegor roared into the microphone.  
Flinching at the sudden outburst, the two players broke into a sprint across the pitch.

**"And play resumes into mid-field!" **came Callie Mystic's commentary from the booth's above. **"This moment could be crucial to solidify a lead for the Shadows. Especially when the Wambas are fast in possession of the ball..." **

The Shadows and Wambas came together in a graceful war, their fluxes glowing around them.  
Sinedd managed to break from the pack, juggling the ball between his feet and locking his sights on the goal.  
"Got'cha...what th-?!"

Ebony dug her foot into his ankle and flitted in front of him with a smug little grin, taking the ball with flux. Sinedd's mouth hung open in shock.

**"Do my eyes deceive me, football fans, or did new player, Ebony, just steal the ball...from a member of her own team?" **

A tightly strung wire in Sinedd's stomach snapped. Fury glowed in the white of his knuckles and the redness of his cheeks.  
He gave a malevolent sneer and bared his teeth. "Alright, if that's how you wanna play..."

With the aid of the smog, he was at Ebony's side, running at full speed. For a brief moment, he caught her eyes widening in shock...and it gave him power.  
He slammed himself to the ground and threw his full body weight into her legs.  
Her chin cracked down on to the pitch as she fell out across the ground like a ragdoll behind Sinedd.

Fans, players and the referee robot watched in confusion, mouths agape and not quite knowing how to react.  
Callie raised an eyebrow and looked at Nork and Barry in surprise. **"Erm...that's clearly a foul but...does it count if it's against the player's own team?"  
"I don't know , to be perfectly honest, Callie."  
"Clearly a retaliation on Sinedd's part. I think it's safe to say that there's a little tension between those two..." **

And that tension helped the Wambas score.  
Artegor went ballistic, to say the very least.  
His complaint to the two conflicting players was vicious, ear-splitting and filled with more swear words than both had in their vocabularies put together.

Sinedd let a past wound ache again, clenching his jaw as he resumed his position. _"You're a weak coach, Artegor...and you're worse for letting that bitch on to the team. I could tough it out. You couldn't. I'm the best player here, let me show it..."_

He glared into the back of Ebony's head.  
He wanted her to _feel _the burn of his eyes on the back of her neck.

* * *

Fifteen minutes after half time, the Shadows were in a draw. Four on four.

"We could be ahead by more!" Artegor yelled into the microphone. "Kai! Keep your guard up! Nilhis pass forward! Sinedd! Ebony! Stop arguing and get back into play!"

Sinedd refused to let them lose their first friendly of the season. He let the salt of the sweat on his brow sting his skin raw as he pushed himself to run at a higher speed. He sucked in a quick breath of hot air and used the smog to get ahead of Wuwambu.  
He didn't get the ball but he did get the perfect chance to let the Wamba's midfielder plough into his side.  
He rolled over on the ground, forcing a pause into play and giving a performance worthy of a Golden Globe Award...and a free kick for the Shadows.

"Make it count, Sinedd," ordered Artegor.

Sinedd's thoughts were racing as he walked into the penalty box eyeing the goalie and the three players who lined up before him.  
Their faces were annoyingly confident and happy, he noted with irritation.

"We NEED to win," he thought, fiercely. "This has to be a sure thing."

He remembered the game of ping-pong he and D'jok had had with this same goalie, in his very first match with the Snow Kids. This goalie could take a good strong kick at any angle in the air...  
"...but maybe not a weaker one that's low to the ground..."

Sinedd gave a flick of the chin to Fulmugus, signalling a change in play as silence came back over the stands.

**"And Sinedd prepares for a free kick for the Shadows...no, wait, what's this? Is he WALKING AWAY from the touch-line?" **

Sinedd turned on heel and slowly approached Ebony, still poised like a scowling school-girl behind him. Her eyebrows raised a little as he neared her.

No one could have predicted his next gesture.  
Sinedd took the ball and rammed it as hard as he could into Ebony's gut.

"What...?"  
Sinedd spoke through gritted teeth. "_You _take it. Take two steps backwards like you did in your little try-out and aim low..."  
Ebony was, (for once in her life), speechless, only able to nod on reply as she walked forward.

Artegor opened his mouth to the mike, but then paused, thought about what Aarch had said and fell silent again.  
Sinedd had taken a gamble. Would it pay off?

"The girl has no skill," Sinedd thought furtively. "But she has luck..."

Ebony's kick sent the ball flying between the keeper's legs, seconds before the buzzer announced the end of play.  
The crowd erupted into cheers and the Shadows beamed at each other in pride, not missing a chance to shoot some well-practiced sneers at the Wambas players around them.

**"And the Shadows win! What an exciting match this has been, football fans!" **Callie gushed from her booth amid the chatter of fellow reporters.

Artegor slumped back in his seat feeling a sudden release. Whether it was relief or sweet surprise, he didn't know.  
"But we're back," he told himself. "It's a start."

The stadium seemed to be exploding. Black and green banners flew left to right as the spectators let it rip with their support for the away-team.  
"Nice," Fulmugus grinned, raising a hand for a high-five to his fellow player...only his fellow player didn't accept. The striker was silent.

Sinedd wrestled with his inner emotions as the players were swept from the pitch, saved from the cloud of paparazzi.  
Anger, pride, annoyance, relief, jealousy, joy, self-hatred and...something else, another feeling he couldn't quite place.  
His eyes skimmed the crowd, blind to the fans screaming at him. Then he saw her.

Ebony looked over at him from behind Nilhis' "well-done" embrace. Upon catching his gaze, her jaw line drew taut with contempt and she sent an icy look in his direction.  
But a kind of confusion glinted in her eyes...confusion and _curiosity_?

Their eyes held there for a moment, deep violet diving into a cobalt blue.  
Then Sinedd narrowed his eyes and turned away.

* * *

A twist of fate, (known commonly as being stuck in an elevator), saw the two being forced to speak.

"So...we won."  
Sinedd rolled his eyes. "Obviously," he spoke slowly, as if to a child. "That's why all the fans were _cheering_."

Ebony frowned. "Then why are you so grumpy?" she taunted. "I mean it's not like that ugly expression on your face isn't _always _there but...I would have thought you'd be happy..."

"We could have done better," Sinedd said after a while, leaning back against the metallic wall and folding his arms against his chest. "We would have won by more if you had stayed out of my way."

"Hey! Wait a minute! I-!"  
"Ugh, just drop it, blondie. I'm not in the mood."

And surprisingly, she did.  
Well, she did for a few minutes anyway.

"Do you regret giving me the free kick?" she asked, eyes to the floor.

"It was genius on my part," said Sinedd smugly. "I've watched your pathetic little baby-kicks. I knew the Wamba's keeper would under estimate you."

"Or are you just sore that **I** won the match for the team?"

_Damn that bitch was vain. _

"Ok then," he laughed, shaking his soft black spikes. "Have your little moment of fame. It'll be over soon...and you'd best do what I say in future, got it?"

She looked up at him. "Whatever. And you've been _watching me_, darling? Is that right?"

Suddenly the elevator whirred to life. The lights came on and the doors opened revealing the lounge of the Shadow's space-ship.  
Artegor was there, bidding an electrician farewell. "There's so much faulty wiring in this damn ship. Sinedd! Ebony! Rejoin your team-mates on the main deck and prepare for launch. We're heading home."

"Yes Coach," murmured Ebony.  
_"Home,"_ thought Sinedd, too tired to reply._"If only..."_

His stomach turned as Ebony's heavy scent of perfume and cigarettes hit him.  
"Don't walk so close to me."  
"Why? Got a problem, darling?"

"And don't call me "darling" either."

Those were the last words they spoke to each other before the Shadow's ship soared off into the ethereal heavens of the galaxy.

* * *

_Hope you liked it! Thanks for reading! :)_


	6. Unmasking

_And now there are six...  
Thanks for all the reviews, you guys are encouraging me to update faster! :D_

_(My personal song choice that best suits this chapter best would be "Poison" by Alice Cooper...particularly because of the lyrics in the first verse and chorus...)_

* * *

It was almost midnight and the Shadows ship was taking its time in getting home, slowly cruising along a delicate strip of star filled sky that gradually got darker and mistier, the nearer it got to the Shadow Archipelago.

Sinedd changed the television channel again. There was nothing good on anywhere else.  
He hated night-time television; at the moment, Arcadia Sports was just doing re-runs of last year's cup- with Snow Kid highlights.  
Ugh...as if his head wasn't screwed up enough already.  
The soft cotton of his t-shirt and boxers was felt cool against his tired muscles and were a nice release from the intense heat he had to deal with today.

They had won the Wambas, their first match of the season, but only by one point. Plus, he had to rely on _that bitch_ to make the final goal.  
"It wasn't like I couldn't have done it myself," he reminded himself. "And besides, that was only a stupid friendly. Wait until we get to the big leagues and I'll score a few goals worth recognising..."

Surprisingly Artegor hadn't said a word to him about his little gamble in mid-field. Come to think of it, Coach Nexus hadn't said a word to him about (what Callie Mystic later called) "the most controversial fouling in GF history" either.  
It was _her _fault either way.  
He was only doing what he was born to do. She was the one getting in the way of things.

Sinedd grunted and shifted his weight on the supple leather of the couch. The lounge in the centre of the Shadow's ship was dark save for the glow of the television as it flickered at the command of Sinedd's remote.  
The Shadow's star-striker couldn't sleep (yet again) and this time he couldn't tell whether it was because of Fulmugus' relentless snoring in the room beside him or the fact that his nightmares just seemed to be getting worse and worse.  
Sometimes his nightmares were about the cup...winning it, losing it...that part didn't matter.  
What mattered was that he always dreamt his parents were in the crowd watching him.  
And their faces were always expressionless. They never shouted or cheered. They just sat there, watching him.  
Watching him with those sharp almond-shaped violet eyes, the ghosts of which he saw in the mirror every day.  
Sometimes, he saw Harris in the crowd too.

Sinedd rolled his head back, groaning as a familiar pain started to throb in his temples.  
Was that Harris he had seen at practice? The man in the purple coat with _her_ daddy and sister?  
Or was it just his mind playing tricks on him again?  
Sometimes he saw Bleylock's face in a crowd too. But he knew he wasn't really there..._wasn't he?_

The young man raised a hand to his head, massaging his tired eyes. He had to put this behind him and be the **best **this time. Without paying any attention to worthless little distractions...

"Can I sit in with you?"  
_Speak of the devil..._

He swung his head back to see Ebony standing in the doorway, clad in a black, silk robe . "Well, do you mind if I come in?"

_"Do you mind if I leave?"_ Sinedd badly wanted to say, but restrained himself. He was too tired to go back to bed and besides, he had been here first.  
"Whatever you want," he murmured. "It's a free galaxy, last time I checked."

She shot him a glare and with a bemused smile, glided around to the other side of the curved sofa.  
They avoided each other's eyes and stayed fixated on the TV.

An interview with the Snow Kids was on. Sinedd resisted the urge to hurl the remote at the screen every time D'Jok's fat head appeared filled it. He still couldn't wait to meet that real fat head face to face on the pitch- so he could "accidently" hit it.  
Micro-Ice leapt across the screen like the overly eager gazelle he was, burbling away to Callie about his latest achievements and triumphs. Then he got a little bit too eager next to a confetti canon.

PFFFFT!  
Micro-Ice let out a cry and fell to the ground in a shower of colourful paper-pieces.

"Loser," Sinedd and Ebony both said in unison, sniggering. Then they caught each other's eyes and stopped abruptly.  
The smile dropped from Sinedd's face and his eyes swivelled back to the screen  
_**No**, we are not allowed to find the same things funny._  
Awkwardness reigned over the next few moments of moodless silence... and then...

"So why did you give me that shot today?" Ebony suddenly asked, looking at him out of the corner of her eye. "It was very...nice for someone like you. Too nice for someone like you actually."

"I told you already, I wanted to win," was his abrasive reply. " Besides, unlike every other soft player in the galaxy, I'm not too concerned with being nice."

"Ah, right."  
More silence.

Then she spoke again. "So...you think I can shoot then?"  
"Obviously," retorted Sinedd, not even bothering to look in her direction. "That would be the reason why I gave you the shot...I thought we'd been through this already, blondie."

"_Ebony_...and maybe there's hope for you yet. That was almost a compliment, Sinedd, my darling."  
"What did we say about calling me "darling?" he growled.

"But you thought we could have done better?" she asked, ignoring his previous statement.  
"What?"  
"In the match. You thought we could have done better in the match?"  
"Yes...we could have..."

"And I suppose it's my fault that we didn't?"  
"Damn straight, it is," Sinedd said quickly. "But you'll get better...," he added, looking up at her.  
"You'd **better **get** better**. You're an embarrassment to this team as it is."

Ebony muttered something incoherent (and probably over-18s worthy) under her breath and slouched back in her seat, playing with the silver chain of her necklace between her fingers.  
Silence. More channel flicking.  
But before it could set in properly, it was shattered again. Only this time it was Sinedd who spoke first.

"Why do you keep fiddling with that cheap little thing, anyway? Why's it so important?"

Ebony took a breath. "My mom gave it to me...I don't really see her anymore."

Sinedd shifted uncomfortably in his seat, swallowing a little. "Oh, so then, your...your mom is, well...your mom is..."

"Split from my dad? Yeah, she lives on Akillian. She was born there."  
"But you weren't, right?"  
"What is this? An interrogation? _No,_ I wasn't."

"That's not such a tragedy, you know. I was stuck on that frozen wasteland with all those losers for years after...after...well, my parents died in that stupid war..."

Ebony sat up a little. "My mom wanted to take me back to Akillian with her during the first year of that war. She and my dad split when she was still pregnant with Violet. My dad wouldn't let her though. He thought my future sibling and I would have better "opportunities" living here on planet Shadow. So about a few months after Violet was born, he claimed custody of the two of us and she left...I've been growing up here in captivity ever since..."

"Oh cry me a river," Sinedd said suddenly. "That's a cute little sob-story. Be thankful you still have your parents. Me? I've had _nine_ families. One set of foster parents more hopeless than the last."

"Wow," Ebony muttered dryly in reply. "I thought _one_ was too many."

"I have no tie-downs though," Sinedd went on, leaning back on to the seat with one elbow and flicking his fringe back over his face. "It's good to live for yourself and have no one to care about. My only concern is being the best I know I am...and not constantly trying to impress mama or _papa_..."

Behind her curls, Ebony glared daggers at Sinedd and opened her mouth for another one of her infamous come-backs (the ones that normally earned her a punch), but then she stopped. She wound the necklace in a tight silver coil around her finger and then almost automatically said:  
"Sinedd, I sort of had...well, I wouldn't have said anything about your...parents, if I had known about-"

"No," he cut across her. "We both know you would have. Maybe you would have been a little smarter about the way you phrased it...but you still would have said something. _You're like that."_

"That's totally...Sinedd, I...!"

"Save it."  
He didn't need her empty pity or her pathetic little apologies. He didn't need her. He didn't need her or anyone.

Sinedd flicked the channels a few more times, not really even paying attention to what they were watching (some kind of Cyclops comedy film of sorts, to be specific). A sudden tension had started to build up in his jaw that begged to be released with some kind of aggression, but he ignored it.  
Talking about his past had put another dull ache in his chest, but his body was too exhausted after the day to comply with the wishes of his mind.  
There was something he was faintly curious about though. Something that had been at him for about three weeks now.

"Something's been bothering me about you, girlie," he began, absent-mindedly.  
She wrinkled her nose. "What doesn't bother you about me?" she thought acidly, before saying: "And that is?"

"What's a prissy, girly, spoiled snob who could have anything she wants in the galaxy, doing playing football? You have NO experience and let's face it, you're a scrawny little bitch. What made you want to take up GF? Did things get boring at the country club or are you just a closet fan-girl?"

"My mom used to play with me...before I stopped seeing her. She used to play on an amateur team on Akillian and she used to teach me whenever she got the chance..."

Ebony's face hardened and she rolled the necklace even tighter around her finger.  
"My dad thought that playing on a real team might help me contro-...might straighten me out a bit, _(seeing as I'm not a genius like Vi)..._so he got me a trial when he heard you lost a player."

_"He paid off Artegor, you mean,"_ thought Sinedd, almost giving a light chuckle at the idea at his esteemed mentor being bribed.  
"What got you into football then?" asked Ebony, shifting forward a little and crossing her legs. "Or where you always this much of a prodigy?"

He rolled his eyes at her "dripping-with-sarcasm" voice and leaned back again to answer, eyes scanning the ceiling.  
"I've been playing since I was a kid. We used to play in gangs outside Planet Akillian Cafè- I was always the toughest and most of the other kids used to be in total reverence of me...the Snow Kids gave me a start when I was got older...then Artegor found me and, well, I could reach my full potential. I was always a super-star. I just needed the chances I had earned. That's because I have real talent..."

"Yeah, whatever...that's a wonderful Cinderella story," she giggled. _"Snowballs..."_

Sinedd flinched and sat up straight with an indignant snarl of "Don't call me that either!"  
Ebony cackled, flicking her wispy hair from her face. "Oh, I heard all about the little nickname Fulmugus gave you! And it begs the question, where exactly did that nickname come from?"

She hooted with laughter that he promptly ignored.  
Sinedd made a mental note to make Fulmugus pay for that.  
"The bastard's gonna have to learn to sleep with his eyes open," he thought, darkly to himself.

For a moment, only the television punctured the sheet of quietness that hung over them and the only it's flashing screen cast light upon the darkened room.  
Sinedd dared himself to look over at his adversary across the room. She had become immersed in some kind of fashion show that was now on Arcadia TV and her eyes bore into the screen, unblinking.  
He let his eyes roam again._ "Is she even wearing anything underneath that robe?"_  
She crossed her legs, showing off a great deal of milky, pale flesh along her legs.

_"Slut."_

His eyes wandered to the parting of the material above her chest, the glint of the necklace and the line of cleavage that was just beginning to grow.  
"Has it been that long?" he asked himself, frustrated. "Am I that desperate?"

He mentally slapped himself and looked away. Little did he know, the second he did, Ebony's eyes did their own little tour of the cotton that hung loosely over his smooth, snowy skin.  
Then her hand was rummaging in her pocket.

"Don't even think about lighting up a cigarette in here..."  
"I'm not going to."

She drew the canister from the folds of her robe, pried it open and slapped a tablet quickly into her mouth, swallowing without a word.  
Sinedd raised an eyebrow. "Those aren't _prescription_ if you have to keep pulling them out every hour...that would probably kill you. You know, if that was actual _medicine _you were taking."

"Gonna go ratting me out to your wonderful mentor, Coach Nexus? Huh, telltale?"  
_Childish, as always._

He snorted. "No. If you want to screw yourself over, that's your affair. Not mine."

Slowly, Ebony pressed the tiny cylinder back into her pocket, looking over at Sinedd with unreadable, half-lidded eyes. "I thought I'm supposed to listen to you from now on, your highness?"

"I rule the pitch...do what you want outside it."  
"As long as I don't have to listen to that whiny voice of yours..."

Sinedd almost laughed at her petty insults, delighting in the frustration that suddenly appeared on her white little face...the anger in her dull, denim eyes. Then he smiled slowly and leaned forward.  
"That's two you owe me, one for the necklace and one for the free kick..."

"And _how _exactly do you propose I pay you back?" she asked gruffly.

"I'll think of something..."

Ebony really couldn't tell whether it was the drug or her rival's voice that was making her quiver, all of a sudden.

* * *

_Hmm, how **is** Ebony gonna pay Sinedd back? She owes something to him after all. He gave her her first drop of fame AND we can't forget he didn't throw her beloved trinket away when he had the chance....but it was never just him being nice. Now she has to repay her debt somehow and clear her mind...the question is, how is she going to do it?  
And where is Harris involved in all of this? With Ebony's dad? WTF?  
_

_Hope you liked it! ^^ Comment and criticise as you see fitting. _


	7. Retribution

_I would like to thank everyone has reviewed so far.  
I love you all :D  
_

_So to express my love, here is chapter 7....._

_And in accordance with my near pointless habit (XD) of always giving a theme song to each chapter, (pardon that, I just like my music) :  
This one's song would be "Take Me Away" by Avril Lavigne _

_Enjoy! _

* * *

And so they ignored each other. Completely.

Sinedd's mind was full of the tournament, proving himself again, piecing together the fragments of his shattered psyche and weathering Artegor's relentless training while still trying to catch up on his sleep. He hadn't had a single undisturbed night since last year's failed attempt at the cup...and it was taking its toll on him. He honestly couldn't tell anymore whether it was the smog or just pure tiredness that made him so dizzy and sick on the pitch. But he buried as much of that as he could beneath a sneering, confident mask and was always there to throw a fierce: "I can handle it, Coach" up at Artegor when it was needed.

Ebony's mind was full of herself, really and the girl she saw in the mirror. The girl who had to keep pleasing her beloved "papa" who never stopped calling to ask about her progress. The girl who was trying to keep up with the other players during the unmerciful training sessions that were levelled at them every day. The girl who was trying to finally say no to the pills. To stop taking them.  
But no matter how many times she looked in the mirror, she had yet to see that girl.

So with too much else to worry about and the undulating pressure the media decided to layer on them, the two simply ignored each other. Avoiding each other completely during both on and off the pitch.

"I admire your maturity," Artegor had smirked to Sinedd earlier that week. "You two are playing nice like good children...for once. No more fighting, eh?"

"Just let her open her mouth to me and that'll change like the weather," Sinedd thought, giving his Coach nothing but a low grunt in reply and turning back to the match they had been watching.

Artegor Nexus, all the while, silently marvelled at the fact that his old friend's advice actually seemed to be working.  
_"Maybe I really am underestimating these kids..." _  
Then again, there was no communication, or connection of any kind when they played. Sure they weren't clawing at each other anymore...but now they both seemed to play as if the stretch of red glass pitch beside them was empty.  
_"And that is no way for the either of them to develop as players...," _even the seemingly cold-hearted coach was willing to admit.

The sun burned down on to the pitch that afternoon during their usual practice, piercing through the underground rafters and casting glossy beams of white and gold across the dark, vermillion pitch.  
And Artegor pushed his players regardless of the killing heat that the subterranean planet was so unused to.  
Ever since the explosion of flux missiles on Shadow, just a year ago, the atmosphere was much clearer so the weather, (to the distaste of the locals), had gotten much better.

"Come on!" roared Artegor, shaking his fist at the players from the booth. "Let's go! Really SHOW me that you all still want to be here!"

Sinedd ignored the sting of sweat on his brow and rolled the ball between his ankles. He passed Nilhis, then Xerxes, darting around them as easily as lifeless mannequins.  
He breathed in the black gas that poured from his lips and rolled against his body in powerful glowing waves. With one single, effortless writhe of his body, he had disappeared and was only a few feet away from the goal.

Kai locked eyes with him, stretching himself out protectively beneath his scarlet jumpsuit , bracing himself for Sinedd's fury that was about to lash out on the goal.

The ultraviolet eyed striker launched himself into the air, sighting the bare stretch of net that he wanted and sending the ball flying there.  
_Goal. Hell yeah. Who's your superstar? Who's the best on this team? _

But he felt something unsettling in his stomach that another perfect goal only _barely_ seemed to eradicate. No matter how hard he tried, Sinedd couldn't erase the overwhelming feeling of dread inside him.

"Good work, Sinedd!" Artegor shouted down through the mike system. "Now all of you! You have about twenty minutes of freestyle practice so pair up and get shooting! Then we'll do a simulation against the Cyclops..."

Ebony linked arms with a rather surprised looking Nilhis and dragged her into the penalty box, gossiping away to her the whole time.  
The Shadow's captain lined up next to his star striker.

"Something wrong, man?" Fulmugus asked, slapping Sinedd across the back. "That was a good goal..."

"Yes it was," muttered Sinedd breathlessly, passing him the ball. "I know."

"But there's still something wrong with you...?" he tested, giving the ball strong kick back.  
"No. I'm just...tired."  
"Hmm, you haven't said a word to our newest player in a while..."  
"Yeah so? I have more important things to do than argue with _that thing_."  
Fulmugus gave an absent minded smile. "But you were pretty entertaining together. Speaking of pretty..."

The tall, white haired captain of the Shadows took the ball beneath his foot and leaned back into a long stretch...the perfect excuse to lock eyes with Nilhis, (who eagerly returned the attention with a flirty little smile of her own). Sinedd turned away and mimed vomiting.

"You'd want to keep your attention focused on _playing, _Fulmugus, and I mean playing _foot- _...hey! Where are you going?!"

His "loyal companion" was now jogging over to join his favourite little midfielder with a huge grin on his face and Nilhis was only too happy to chatter away with him...despite Ebony's insistence that she was "_her _partner first!"

"Good idea, Fulmugus. That's thinking like a captain," announced Artegor. "Switch partners everyone!"

Before Ebony or Sinedd could even open their mouths in protest, Nilhis and Fulmugus had already darted off down the field together, looking all too pleased with themselves.

Sinedd slumped his shoulders and let out a sigh. "A perfect afternoon is about to be ruined..."

"Pass me the ball," he demanded, swinging back around to Ebony.  
She raised an eyebrow haughtily. "Just get your own ball and do your own thing . I don't need _your _help."

She gave the ball a firm kick and set it rolling into the empty net before them. "I can manage on my own."

Sinedd laughed coldly. "Not with a kick like that, you can't."  
"Huh?"

He strode forward, fishing the ball out of the goal and rolling it into his possession. "You need to put _power _into your kicks...like this..."

With one swift belt of Sinedd's toe, the ball shot like a bullet into the top of the netting. The sheer force kept spinning until the young man walked coolly into the goal, himself and stopped it with a finger.  
"See? That takes strength. Something you need."

Ebony rolled her eyes as he walked towards her. "Ooooh, that was so impressive I forgot to say "wow"."  
"So say it now," he sniggered, dropping the ball back to the ground. "And take a few steps back, will ya blondie? You're still on my side of the pitch..."

"_Ebony_," she insisted, dragging the ball between her feet. "So what is it anyway? You just think I need to put a bit of "power" into my kicks? Like kick the damn thing harder?"

"No, stupid," he sighed. "You have to kick from the whole of your leg, not just your foot..."  
"Care to elaborate, oh great genius?" Ebony sighed straight back. "For a Genesis All-Star , you really don't strike me as being that _bright_..."

Sinedd smirked at her, swiping the ball away from her and taking three dominant steps back. "Watch and learn..."

Smog flared up around Sinedd's body like a one huge obsidian flame. It engulfed him until only a glossy, slivery silhouette was visible within.  
Then he was gone, swirling up into the air as a sinister, black cyclone. His body seemed to unfurl and unravel from its glossy black chrysalis as the silvery ball blasted down into the goal.

The ball split the net as if it was nothing more than fragile cobweb.  
Ebony watched, eyes wide and mouth slightly agape, as Sinedd came hurtling back to the ground beside her, landing like a dark, wingless angel.  
Jealousy caught her in a stranglehold as she stared at his crouched form. _How could he be so...so...like that?! He didn't have half the natural power over the smog that she had..._

"Sinedd? What's up with you?!" Kai shouted over, looking rather worried.  
_"Something's not right," _Ebony thought, becoming slightly panicked when she really _looked _at Sinedd for the first time. _"Why isn't he standing up?" _

_

* * *

_

"Oh no," thought Sinedd. "No...no...no...not now."  
It was the smog. He could feel it in his chest, pulsing and writhing like a living being trying to force its way out of his throat. His whole body was on fire. His temples were throbbing with coarse, sharp, unfailing pain. He couldn't breathe either.  
An invisible hand had sealed his mouth shut.  
Sinedd's vision blurred, stellar white lights flashing before them like a thousand photographers.  
He grabbed his head, dropping to the pitch on his knees and crying out in pain. He could barely hear his own cries though...or the ones of those around him.  
He could just barely make out Artegor screaming into the earpiece...and the other players gathering around him. A cold sweat had begun to break on his face. "Get back..."  
He could make out a blurry flick of yellow out of the corner of his eye. Someone getting nearer to him...  
**Ebony**...

* * *

"Get away from me!" Sinedd shouted in a deep ragged voice, throwing a vicious punch at Ebony. He missed, but she still stumbled back in shock.  
The other players cautiously gathered around while Artegor frantically shouted through the intercom. "Fulmugus! What's going on?!"

"It's smog poisoning, Coach...he's passing out!"  
"Someone call a medic!"  
"I'm on it!"  
"Quickly! Quickly!"

Artegor pulled around the camera to get a better look at Sinedd. The smog was leaking from his mouth and nose, his eyes were squeezed shut and he was lying, spread-eagle, on the glass ground.  
This scene was all too familiar to the coach of the Shadows. His stomach pulled tight as he dialled in a number for a medic...

Ebony stood there, staring for a moment with eyes wide and unblinking as she witnessed the horrific scene. Then it was her turn to do something incredibly unexpected and totally unlike her...

She walked forward with a mask-like expression on her face. She had no fear of being hit as Sinedd had stopped flailing around. He was still now, his head only lolling slightly and his lips muttering inaudible words that she could barely hear.  
"Ebony? What in the name of the galaxy are you-?" Artegor began. Then he fell silent, as did all the other players on the pitch.

Wordlessly, the girl knelt down beside Sinedd, paused hesitantly for a moment and then placed her lips over his. Her mouth engulfed his completely. His skin was cold and wet but smooth...like ice. Ebony shut her eyes and craned her neck even further.  
Nilhis' jaw dropped. "Is she...giving him CPR...or _kissing _him...?"

"Neither," Artegor said, shellshocked and realising. "She's sucking the smog from his mouth."

Ebony had to place her hand back on the ground to steady herself as she inhaled. She loved the taste of the smog as it poured from his mouth into hers. And if this selfish love could save a life...  
"Don't stop!" she could hear a distant voice saying. "Don't stop!"

And she didn't stop.  
Not until she felt a tap on the shoulder and a medic was dragging her back to her feet and Artegor was shouting at her from the stands behind...

* * *

Sinedd opened his eyes, the blurry infirmary of the Shadow's training compound shifting into view.  
His body felt tired and weak against the bed he lay on. Beneath the sheets and the pyjamas he now wore, his limbs felt as if they each weighed a thousand tonnes.  
He took in two long, deep breaths of air as he tried to recall what had just happened.  
A vague memory of lying on the pitch, suffocating beneath the crushing weight of the smog...and the horribly familiar smell of smoke and perfume...?  
No, that couldn't have been it. That was another crazy trip the smog had caused him to have. There was no way that-

"Finally awake, are you?"

He swivelled around on the pillow, only to see Ebony sitting on a chair at his bedside, still wearing her training suit and a contorted scowl on her face. She lowered the magazine that had been on her lap.

"That counts as one," she said blankly, raising her eyes to his.  
"One of what?" he asked groggily, feeling his favourite migraine starting to return.  
"One of the "ones" I owe you. I'd like to think that counted as some form of payback."

"Wait," Sinedd cut across her, confused and faintly disgusted. "So, you actually _did_..."  
"Save your sorry ass?" Ebony interjected with a sickeningly sweet smile. "Yes. I did."

Sinedd groaned and pressed his head back into the pillow. "If you want some kind of hero's "thank you" or an "I owe you my life speech", you're looking for it in the wrong place..._Ebony_."  
He really wasn't in the mood for that shit right then and there.  
"Besides, I bet you already got your medal from Artegor."

Ebony raised her eyebrows and folded her arms.  
"Actually, he told me that what I did was reckless and stupid and that he'd kick my ass off the team if I ever put mine or the life of another player up to chance like that again. He said you could have died and so could I..."

"So why didn't you?"  
"Excuse me?"  
"Why didn't _you_ suffocate or something?" he repeated. "What got you so used to poisonous gas? The cigarettes or your perfume?"

She didn't frown or roll her eyes this time. She took a breath.  
"When I was five, the doctors realised that the crossbreeding of my mother's Akillian genes and my father's Shadowarian genes had caused some _problems. _I was born with the same sheet of smog in my body that all Shadow-born children are...but a set of Akillian-bred lungs. So basically, I could use the smog as easily as I wanted to, but my body was having difficulty managing it because I took after my mother, I guess.  
Later that year, I had to get a detox operation that would fix me so I could live here with my dad. I didn't do well when I _wasn't_ using the smog after that. I had to use it all the time to make myself feel...sane. So the doctors gave me drugs to keep me under control...and then I couldn't stop taking them..."

Her voice trailed off, her eyes going slowly blank. "So I can manage a lot more smog in my body than you can...I'm used to trashing my lungs, remember?"

Sinedd looked at her for a moment, arching an eyebrow. "O...k...?"  
_It was nice of you to tell **me** all of this...but what the hell was the point? _

"It's a perversion of nature, isn't it?" Ebony said suddenly, her stare growing hard as she interrupted Sinedd's train of thought.

"What is?"  
_You **kissing **me? Yes, I agree. That **is **a perversion of nature..._

"You and I," she went on. "Using the smog. Our natural flux is the Breath...it's the one we were, well, _built _to use."

"No," Sinedd said sharply. "I may have been born on Akillian but my place is _here_ and the smog is my flux. The Breath? Yeah, it's ok, I guess..._for children_ who like little light shows. It's like I said before, it takes skill to use and it isn't just some "baby flux." It's power for the ones who are good enough to use it. Like me! It's worth the effort. Heh, no pain, no gain..."

"Very wise."

Sinedd could honestly not tell whether she was being sarcastic or not, for once. He massaged his temples, feeling a pain starting up there again.  
He flinched, feeling Ebony's icy fingers press something small and round into his palm. A tablet.

"That'll get rid of your headache..."  
Sinedd looked at her quizzically with an expression that said: _"Trying to get me high or something?"  
_"It's from the _nurse_. She told me to give it to you when you wake up," she frowned. "Look if you don't believe me..."  
"Ok, ok. Shut up and I'll take it," he groaned. "Your whining is just making my head feel even more like shit..."  
He slipped the tablet quickly between his lips, suddenly pleasantly surprised at how quickly his head stopped aching. "So did the medics happen to say when I can get back to training?"

"Whenever Artegor says you can, apparently," she replied, going back to her magazine.  
"And I can use the smog again, right?"  
"Yes...but what do I look like to you? Your nurse?"  
"Not in _that _outfit anyway..."  
Ebony pursed her lips. "Is your head feeling better?"  
"I guess so," he half yawned, suddenly very aware of how late into the evening it was.  
"Good. Now lie down and get some rest."

"Yes _mommy_. Since when did you get so damn caring?"

"Artegor told me to sit and keep an eye on you until you fall asleep, so the faster you fall asleep, the faster I get to get back to _my _life and not that of his beloved protégé," she said sourly, leaning back in her chair. "Now get some rest."

Her tone was lighter that time.

Sinedd lay back, savouring the comfort. "Well it's your fault, you know. You're the one who decided to go all heroic and save me..."

"Yes. I did do that," she said blankly. "Didn't I?"

"You still owe me one though," Sinedd reminded her, turning over. "Don't forget. You still _owe _me."  
Ebony snorted. "Yeah, whatever."

Maybe it was only her imagination that as he turned away from her, Sinedd gave a cough that sounded suspiciously akin to the words _"thank you". _

_

* * *

_

_Harris turned to the calendar at his bedside.  
"Phase one...completed...I'm back in with the league..."_

_He smiled darkly, carefully putting a red circle around the first date of the Blitz Tournament.  
"Bleylock may have been a patient man...something I am not, admittedly," he grinned to himself. "However I will **slowly **bring the galaxy to its knees. Bowing before me...and the footballers of Genesis are going to help me do it..." _

_

* * *

_

Ebony woke with a jump, looking around the dark, barely-lit infirmary room.  
Her gaze fell upon the figure lying in the bed next to the seat she had been napping in.  
"I must have fallen asleep while watching Sinedd," she wondered aloud. "So much for getting back to _my _life..."

He turned over gently, murmuring in his sleep, his face illuminated by the thin tongue of yellow light that stretched through the hinges of the door.

"Hmm...," Ebony mused. "You're kind of cute when you're not awake and being a jerk..."

* * *

_Thanks for reading! Review, comment and critique as you wish! Hope you liked it! :D_


	8. Beneath

_Here is chapter eight...for your viewing, er ...reading pleasure._

_(This chapter's theme song is "The Chemicals React" by Ashley and Alison Michalka)  
Once again, thanks for the reviews! Enjoy.... _

* * *

Sinedd leaned in against the weight machine and gave the bar another laborious pull into his shoulder blades. The gym was colder than usual but despite that, sweat glistened all over his body.  
Now he had a reason to push himself harder than ever.

Just that morning, Artegor had announced that their next friendly match would be against the Snow Kids.  
Oh yeah, that match was gonna be "friendly" alright.

This was the moment Sinedd had been waiting for...or at least a taste of it before the real thing in the tournament. Whatever about getting back to that floating ice cube of a planet, he just wanted to shove his skill straight into D'Jok's face. He wanted to make Aarch regret making him second-best. He wanted to show Artegor that the little "drama" they had suffered during their last training session.

That hadn't been his first smog attack, his first attack of severe flux poisoning, but it had felt miles worse this time. It had felt like the smog was eating him alive, from the inside out. When the medics had finally decided to let him out of bed, his dear coach and mentor had decided to confine him to the gym for the whole day to "work off" the medication before their final big training session before the match.

Sinedd switched the weights on the machine, making them heavier, pressed his back against the tight leather and gripped the handles, ready to begin again.  
"One...two...three..."  
He silently cursed the fact that all the other players were off until later (that had been Artegor's condition: _"You want to play this evening with your team-mates? You go shape up in your free time"_) and had cleared off into the City of Shadows for the day.

Well, _almost _all of them. Go on, just guess who Artegor had assigned to keep Sinedd company for the day- as punishment for her "inexcusable recklessness."

"Good afternoon, invalid!" said Ebony cheerily as she strode into the gym with a tray in her hands. "Having fun lugging weights?"

"Afternoon, loser!" he smiled back. "Well, I was until you got in here..."

"Always the charmer, aren't we?"  
"Only when I'm with you, blondie..," Sinedd sneered, voice dripping in sarcasm. He dropped the weight-bar and started to pull his jersey off, displaying the tight white vest top underneath...and a set of _very _impressive arms, lined with snowy, shining muscle.

Ebony had to promptly spin around and fling the tray on to the coffee table to stop herself from staring so much. She bent forward a little, checking her reflection in the shiny panel of the rowing machine.  
"So, feeling any better then?"

Sinedd raised an eyebrow, suddenly burying his face into a towel to stop _himself _from staring at the _very _short shorts Ebony was now sporting. "Since when do you care?"

"I'm not playing next to a clone! How stupid would that be?"  
Sinedd paused thoughtfully. "You should feel right at ease! The clones are manufactured, empty-headed and play like robots...just like you!"

Ebony gritted her teeth. "Oh ha, ha, ha. Ugh, take a shower...you smell awful..."  
Sinedd grinned, knowing he had her on the ropes. "Sorry, my shower's not exactly working lately."

"Oh? Really?"  
"Yeah, I've been washing my lips for the past 24 hours and they _still _feel dirty..."  
"Don't you think that being _forced _to babysit you is punishment for me enough? Must you bring back the most horrific eleven minutes of my life?"  
"You were counting!? Besides, I didn't _ask _you to do that. No one was forcing you to, honey."  
"Well, I didn't want to end up on the pitch alone and...fuck, what happened to you?"

Ebony was staring at Sinedd's arms with a suddenly unflatteringly curious look on her face. He  
followed her gaze to the several foggy clouds of purple bruises that tattooed his arms.  
"How did...?"

Sinedd gave a cold laugh and then hesitated for a moment. He opened his mouth, eyeing her warily and then spoke one word with a tinge of bitterness, slight fear and powerful pride on his lips:  
_"Netherball." _

"Nether-what?"  
"Netherball," Sinedd repeated, hesitating again in the thought of whether or not he should be talking to her about it. "It's a game..."  
"Like one of your silly little video games?" Ebony teased, taking a seat in front of him. "Looks pretty dangerous."

"It is," Sinedd went on, coolly, his pride and desire to put her in her place taking over. "But it's no silly video game. It's _real. _Like football, only with no rules, no coaches and no referees...I, of course, was a champion player." For a brief moment, in Ebony's interested silence, Sinedd allowed those flashing memories of the Sphere flood back to him. "It was played underground on Genesis. Ever been?"

Ebony shook her head. "Nope."  
Sinedd raised an eyebrow. "Really, princess? Well, it's a big place and Netherball's only for professional players, but it was _illegal._ We never got caught though. I used to run those matches...you'd be surprised at who was having a go..."

"Sounds like some dirty fun," Ebony smirked, she nodded at his arms, eyes wide. "Looks like it too...and I thought I had a dark ink-job."  
The jet black haired striker gave a curt nod for a moment and leaned back, giving a gentle bite on his index finger in thought. He recalled the swirling black pattern he had seen, inked out on to the small of her back.

Then he leaned forward, inquisitively. "Did you cry much when you got your tattoo?"  
Ebony frowned. "No. I didn't cry! It hurt a _lot _though...does it hurt much getting your ears done?"  
"Yeah, sure it does," said Sinedd, stroking the gold studs along his earlobe tentatively. "But it was no problem for _me_."

For a moment, the two smiled to themselves, reminiscing on the moment of receiving their first tokens of rebellion and teenage revolution, not taking much notice of the other.

"So is that soda for me?" asked Sinedd, gesturing to the tray she had brought in.

"What? Oh yeah. I was ordered to bring this to you." Ebony handed him over the purple can and a plate of sugary looking biscuits. "Just a little pick-me-up for Artegor's pet."

"And you didn't get something for yourself? That's pretty hard to believe."  
"I'll have you know, I'm watching my weight!"

Sinedd took a long gulp from the can and wiped his mouth with the palm of his hand.  
"Yeah!" he laughed. "You'd want to keep an eye on the pounds, wouldn't you? Careful! If Artegor thinks you're getting a bit on the weighty side, he won't be slow to kick you off the team..."

Ebony smirked and preened at her reflection in the metallic tray beneath them. "I have my natural advantages though. Unlike _some people, _that is."

Sinedd helped himself to a cookie. "So, we're back to Akillian for our match against those idiots, the Snow Kids. Home, in a weird way...gonna go see your mom?"

"Doubt it," she replied. "Gonna go see your foster parents?"

"Doubt it. I don't really bother with them anymore," he muttered crudely. "Hey, blondie?"

_"Ebony," _she corrected, annoyed. "Use my real name or I won't answer. What is it?"

"I never actually got to ask you properly," he went on. "Why _did _you save me ...in the way you did? Why didn't you just wait for the medics?"

Ebony's eyes widened for a moment and straightaway her finger wound around her silver necklace.  
"If I waited for the medics then you'd be sick to the stomach right now," she began. "But well, I didn't want to have to deal with having to find a replacement for you when I'm on _my_ rise to fame and I-I...I well I owed you one a-_anyway_...and I-I-I guess, I wanted to pay you back for giving me the free kick, ok?"

"Ok," Sinedd chuckled. "No need to get all hot and bothered, I was just asking and geez, if you wanted a kiss _that _badly...you have to wait and get turned down like everyone else!"

"Oh don't flatter yourself! You wish, loser," pouted Ebony, but she was laughing. "You wish."

Sinedd took another took another sip of his soda and leaned back in the seat with a contented sigh.  
"How long until...?"

Artegor's voice interrupted him, pouring out of the speakers.

**"All players are to report directly to the holo-trainer for today's main training session. Any late comers will be made run laps around the stadium...regardless of how many photographers are out there!" **

He rolled his eyes. "Ugh. Go figure."  
"Go on then, put some clothes on and let's go," muttered Ebony. "I don't want to be late because of you..."

Sinedd stuck his tongue out at her and pulled the black jersey back over his head, turning away to turn off the weights machine again. "Awww, and I thought you were enjoying it."  
Ebony looked disgusted. "Why!? What makes you think that?"

The young man spun around and crushed the can in the palm of his hand. "You may have not noticed, Ebony, but your face has gone red..."

* * *

The match simulation was intense.  
Artegor's time with the Snow Kids had given him plenty of information to upload on to the holo-trainer mainframe. Now the holographic players played as hard as the real Snow Kids and trying to constantly keep them in check was tough.

Fulmugus wrestled the ball away from Rocket and slid past Tia with a quick flash of the smog. Sinedd crouched down and took a few laboured breaths as the Shadow's captain sent the ball flying in his direction. He could feel his heart start to pound as the ball got closer.  
_"Here we go...let's go smog, don't fail me now." _

He released the dark flux from inside of him, performing a vanishing act right in front of a stunned Thran, who stumbled backwards and left him a clear path to Yuki in goal.

Or not.  
D'Jok's clone was suddenly at his back, surrounded by the bluish glow of the breath. Sinedd swore violently as he was forced to dribble backwards, out of shooting range.  
His eyes swivelled around the pitch, quickly assessing his options.

"Come on Sinedd!" came Artegor's coaxing in his ear. "Remember! You can do this. You are invincible!"

Sinedd threw his head back, shaking off D'Jok's advances. "I know! I know...I.."  
Then he had an idea.

"Hey Ebony!"  
She looked over him. "I know, I know..._your _side of the pitch!"  
"No!" he shouted back, shooting her the ball. "Take it into the air!"

For a brief moment, Ebony looked surprised. She quickly got over it though, when Mei's hologram was fast, infringing on her territory.  
The girl disappeared in a cloud of black haze and then snapped back into existence in the air above the cross-bar.

"Yes!"  
Sinedd appeared beside her in his own shroud of shimmering black fog. "Right now pa-"

He was interrupted by Mei and D'Jok's pixelated clones shooting up before them with a shower of icy blue.  
"Again!" shouted Sinedd. "Use the smog again!"

The two were swept up higher in another cloud of black cloud, the pitch rapidly shrinking beneath them. "Ok now pass to me!"  
Ebony complied, (for once and somewhat irritably), kicking the ball into Sinedd's possession.

The Shadow's superstar pulled his leg back and in one fluid kick that was loaded with sheer ferocity. A kick that sent the ball soaring straight between the two shocked Snow Kids and straight into the back of the net, Yuki looking around in confusion.

"That's the way to do it!" shouted Artegor. "Nice work!"

Sinedd crashed back to the ground beside Ebony, punching the air in triumph. "Hell yeah."  
Ebony rolled her eyes. "It's just a goal. Big whoop." But she was smiling.  
"Eh, jealous much?" sneered Sinedd, preparing for Yuki's throw out.  
"Hey, you couldn't have done it without _me_."  
"Because you're listening to me on the pitch. Good girl! Do what your told and I might just send you a pass like that in the real match."  
"_No one_ tells me what to do," she retorted.  
Sinedd laughed. "Yeah, no one except your precious papa and-"

_"Both of you! Get back into position and prepare for the next play!" _shouted Artegor into the intercom. _"Save the flirty chit-chat for later."_

"Y-yes coach," they both chorused, hurrying back into their places and rejoining their laughing team-mates.

Artegor leaned back into his seat thoughtfully. He was watching Sinedd just that little bit more closely ever since yesterday's incident.  
The man squeezed his eyes shut behind his sunglasses; Artegor never thought that he would have to witness another horrific case of flux-poisoning...watching someone he cared about, rolling helplessly around on the pitch, paralyzed and dead to the world. All because they were trying to please him...

He swiftly diverted his attention back to the monitor and back to his players. Sinedd's smog was under control now, thankfully and he was back to his usual cocky, serious-about-the-sport self.

"He and Ebony haven't been doing much fighting lately," he thought, watching Nilhis slice past Tia on the screen.  
In the background, Sinedd shouted something inaudible across at Ebony. Whatever he had said must have been fairly "ornate" because the second he had finished, she was storming across the pitch, red-faced to deliver a punch to his arm.

"Ok," Artegor conceded. "They haven't been fighting as badly as they were before...but at least they're playing as a duo. We'll need that against Aarch's lot. Hmmm..."

He leaned in towards the monitor, watching as Ebony blocked another pass before it managed to slide past Sinedd, which he acknowledged with a begrudging tilt of his chin.  
Sinedd then proceeded to follow the curly-haired striker up the pitch, surveying every attacker like a vulture.  
"Sinedd," Artegor ordered into the mike, switching to "private-mode". "Leave Ebony dribble up the field _alone_..."

"Hmph!" snorted the young man. "I just want to be there to clean up her mess when she screws up."  
But all the same, he reluctantly slowed up.

_"Hmmm_," thought the coach, leaning back into his seat. _"Between catching passes for each other and blocking attacks for one and other...you're both playing a bit protectively aren't you two? One would think that you didn't hate each other as much as you claim to..." _

"Nice. Now keep it up," he said aloud into the microphone as Kai blocked another shot, before dissolving back into his thoughts.  
_"And it was very unlike our dear Ebony not to whine about having to keep an eye on Sinedd all day...oh well, at least they're finally playing together on the pitch,"_ he concluded.

_"But still, what changed between you two? What stopped all the harsh conflict? Aarch is right, these bloody kids are more complicated then they look..." _

* * *

_"No...mom! Dad! Don't go!....Harris, he wants to...we have to....NO!" _

Sinedd woke with a jump, looking around the room shakily. It was only his bedroom in the Shadow's compound. Nowhere else.  
"It was just a nightmare," he told himself, wiping sweat from his face. "It was just another fucking night-"

Suddenly a strangled gasp followed by a high pitched squeal of anguish sounded off out in the hallway. Sinedd sat up, listening intently and heart racing beneath the t-shirt he was wearing.  
There it was again.

"If Nilhis and Fulmugus are at it _again_..."

Again. Pretty loudly too. Close by.  
_Ebony's room. _

"What the-?"  
He listened carefully, eyes furtive in the darkness. "I swear to god, if that bitch keeps me awake all night, I'll..."

The gasp was louder this time, pain lacing each laboured breath. Then there was a loud splashing sound, like water being thrown around. Then a crash.

Sinedd got up, pulling his bathrobe on, (his favourite one with the Shadows logo), and walked slowly out into the hallway. He didn't really have a clue what he was planning on doing exactly. Just that he had heard some weird noises and wanted to investigate.

His heart gave an uncomfortable thump when the door of Ebony's room slid open, only to reveal an empty bed. The light in the bathroom was on though, shining out across the room.  
Another thump.

_What was up with her?  
_Sinedd padded cautiously across the room and peered around the door of the bathroom.

"Ebony? You in here?" he called out quietly. "What's with all the noise? You're keeping me up..."

Ebony was kneeling by the rim of the toilet, head hanging and hands tangled up in her hair. She shivered and jumped a little, hearing Sinedd's voice but her eyes were fierce and stony when her head twisted around.  
"Si-Sinedd? G-et out of here! Wh-what are y-ou doing in m-m-my...?"  
Suddenly her entire body lurched forward and she was forced to throw herself back over the lid, vomiting.

Her shoulders heaved for a moment and a tiny spray of black smog materialised around her head but it faded as she sat back, shaking violently and wiping her mouth and eyes.  
Nonchalantly, Sinedd walked across the cold, tiled floor and placed both hands on her shoulders.  
"Now who's taking care of who? Come on, stand up."

Ebony's mascara was running at the corners of her eyes and her hair was in knots and slicked against her very red face. She felt the three things she swore she would never let herself feel again.  
(a) Humiliatingly ugly.  
(b) Vulnerable.  
(c) Totally devoid of any decent eye-shadow.

But all the same, she begrudgingly allowed herself to be helped to her feet by her dark haired contender. He stood behind her for a moment as she blearily tried to steady herself.

"Are you...ok?" Sinedd finally asked, letting go of her and taking a step back. "Want me to go get Artegor or something? You shouldn't be training with us if you're _that_ sick..."

Ebony gave a curt nod. "I'm fine. I'm fine. I'll be ok."  
"Good," replied Sinedd, somewhat airily. "Now clean yourself up. You smell disgusting."  
She narrowed her eyes and gave him a flabby, weak punch in the chest. "Get out of here then! I'm not changing my pyjamas in front of you! Besides what are you doing out of bed anyway?"

Sinedd scowled as he stepped out of the bathroom and slid the door shut behind him. "You know, it's a little hard to sleep with you thrashing and splashing around in here."  
A vein of uneasiness and discomfort slipped beneath the running, cheeky, attitude-loaded feel of the conversation.

"So does this kind of thing happen to you...often?"  
Behind the door, Ebony's tone faltered a little. "No. Not always."  
"Look, blond-...er _Ebony_," Sinedd began. "Those cracks I made about your weight earlier...I wasn't..."

"It's not an eating disorder," she retorted sharply.  
"Oh well, good," he snorted in reply as he sank down on to her bed. "Because you're already such a scrawny little bitch, one hard tackle from any defender and you'll probably snap in two."

"Oh witty...very witty..."

Then Sinedd spotted the empty canister on her bedside table. That was when his uncomfortable feeling returned. "So if you didn't make yourself sick, then what did?"

"Oh! Em...just my medication," Ebony shouted out, lightly. "I took a little too much...medication. But forget me, it happens all the time..."

She reappeared at the door, now snug in her own Shadows bathrobe, yellow curls brushed back into place and face shockingly naked-looking without its usual layer of make-up. The female striker leaned against the doorpost. "You didn't have to _stay _you know."

Sinedd cocked an eyebrow. "Oh no, I'm just making sure you get back to bed and stop fucking keeping me awake and..." He hesitated for a moment. "...I wanted to ask you something."  
Now it was Ebony's turn to raise her eyebrows as she sat down beside him. "Oh? And what would that be?"

"Your dad," said Sinedd, looking straight ahead into the dark void of Ebony's bedroom. "Does he work with a man called...Harris? Like one who would have come to see the practice session the day that your dad visited?"  
"And you're suddenly so eager to get nosy with my father's private life _because?_" Ebony asked, looking a little stunned.

Sinedd swallowed. "I've been having these nightmares lately...about a man I used to work for, called Harris. I thought I saw him with your daddy dearest, last time he came to visit us while we were training. Look, I know it sounds stupid and weird but...," he looked at her. "There's something strange about that man. Like something crazy. I never really got to know him properly...or get _paid _for that matter, but I just know there was never something "right" about him and well...I don't want him coming after me if he ever came here..."

"Ah, so this is the man of your dreams you've been shouting about...but come after you?" said Ebony, incredulously. "Why would he be coming after you?"

Part of Sinedd made a mental note to slice Ebony down for her sudden nosiness, but that part of him deteriorated as soon as he opened his mouth. "It's kind of to do with Netherball. Like I said, I used to run the show down there but well, things kind of...fell apart. Harris never delivered the pay when I came looking for him and I don't know. I was supposed to meet Harris' employer but the address he gave me didn't check out...the whole thing felt like a set up...and now just seeing him re-appear after all this time...I just have a bad feeling..."

He mentally cursed himself for not shutting up when he should have.

Sinedd was expecting Ebony to smirk, toss her curls and take the mickey out of him as usual but she didn't. She simply turned away from him and murmured:  
"No, my dad doesn't have any associates called "Harris." But then again, he never talks to me about that kind of thing so I'm only working off who I've seen come to his office for meetings. I'll let you know though," she added offhandedly.

"Erm, thanks, I gue-, wait! I'm not thanking _you! _You owe me! I'm the one who's done everything for you lately."  
"And who's babysat you for a whole day?"  
"Who's had to babysit _you _just now!?"

Someone stirred in the room beside them, causing them both to jump and fall silent. Sinedd and Ebony looked at each other, nearly laughing at how quickly the mood had changed.  
The dark haired young man held a hand up to silence the blonde young woman, ensuring that they hadn't given any of their team-mates a rude awakening.  
Waking a Shadows player in the middle of the night after an intense training session was about as safe as trying to flirt with the Kernor's boyfriend in her presence.  
Pretty suicidal.

In the cover of silence and darkness, the two could only stare at each others' half-lit silhouettes.  
Under a shadowy sheath, Sinedd's shimmering violet eyes flickered beneath the veil of his long, soft black fringe and his skin was a ghostly ivory pale. Ebony's was also very white and snowy and her own bluish green eyes were a cool denim contrast to the honey coloured ringlets that hung either side of her face.

Sinedd was the first to blink out of the stare. "Well, I should go...em, don't wake me up again or I'll get Artegor."  
He turned to leave as she slipped back beneath the covers.

"Close the door behind you," she mumbled, turning over.

"Night."  
_"Night." _

_

* * *

_

_Hope you enjoyed that! Sorry for the delay! Thanks again!_


	9. Return

**_First off:_**_ Thanks for all the reviews! Thank you **Gerkyhen. **Thank you _GFSista**_. _**_Thank you **ArabianNinja. **Thank you **smalltowngal**. Thank you **Muffin'sback. **Thank you **FemaleSpock.  
**Also, a huge thank you to **Turkmen; **thank you for that adorable sketch of Ebony you drew and I can't wait to see the full picture! (Also, good luck in your exam sessions!)  
So...yeah, random, but that's just something I wanted to say (^_^') I believe that it's important to show gratitude...even though the fic is nowhere near over! LOL_

_ANYWAY, here is chapter nine!   
The theme song of this particular chapter would be "Hot n Cold" by Katy Perry...and maybe "London Bridge" by Fergie towards the end...you'll see why ...XD _

* * *

The Shadow's ship was gliding neatly and swiftly towards the Akillian atmosphere and the common room was heavy with the anticipation of the players. They couldn't wait to tear up the pitch with their old rivals again.  
And one player in particular was particularly eager to get out on the pitch, to show his old-team mates how leaving their pathetic team was the best choice he'd ever made.

That player was sitting at the window, gazing out into the azure heavens around them. It had been a while since Sinedd had seen a sky as bright or as blue as this; the sky that could be seen from Planet Shadow never really changed from day to night and all the cities were underground, in the planet's dark strata of rock.  
The other players weren't really as moved by the sight of a brightened sky, so they gave Sinedd his space, preferring to relax by the television and stereo. But Sinedd was far from his usual blissfully lonely state thanks to Ebony's overbearing presence at his side.  
Sure, she was an annoying little bitch, but she was good for conversation...or argument...either way, it was a break from sitting alone.

"So what are spoiled princesses into these days?"  
"Excuse me?"  
"What- are- you- into?" he said, speaking slowly as if to someone of a lesser intelligence. "Other than drugs, cigarettes, make up and getting on my nerves?"

"I like music...I used to dance quite a bit..."  
"Oh...you _danced_?" wheedled Sinedd, laughing at the possibility of his original assumptions about Ebony's past as a pole dancer being true. "And is that another thing _daddy_ didn't know about?"  
"He's the one who got me into it," Ebony retorted blankly.

Sinedd could only stare at her for a moment, his mouth slightly hanging open. "Your dad...?"

"Enrolled me into _ballet _classes, twit. I gave it up though."  
"Oh right, _ballet," _muttered Sinedd, taking a minute to cleanse his thoughts. "Why'd you give it up?"

Ebony shrugged. "It was pissing me off and the teacher thought I had a bad attitude. Ugh, sometimes I just don't get where people get these ideas from."  
"I don't know," Sinedd smirked thoughtfully. "That sounds pretty accurate to me."  
She frowned. "You're one to talk. So what are _you _into then? Or are just all about football 24/7?"

"Well I was always a pro at football, even when I was a kid...and I was always pretty into snow sports and shit. Hey, when you lived on Akillian, did you ever magna board?"

"No."

"What?"  
Sinedd had barely raised an eyebrow the fact that Ebony was the hybrid child of an Akillian woman and a Shadowarian man and had gotten over the idea his new team-mate may be an addict in denial pretty darn easily. But for the first time, something had come out of her mouth that genuinely shocked him. "You have **never **been magna boarding before?"

"No, I haven't. What's so bad about that?"  
"It's only like the best sport in the galaxy, next to football!"  
"And I suppose you're a "pro" at that too?"  
"You bet I am. I have a pretty sweet board too, back at the room on Shadow. I can't exactly use it though."  
"To be honest, I've never felt the urge to try sliding down a snowy cliff on a piece of metal...it looks kind of stupid...and _dangerous_..."

"Only if you do it wrong," asked Sinedd, propping his elbow up on the window ledge. "It takes skill, you know. I could show you sometime," he added offhandedly.

"You mean show off for me?"

"Show you how _good _I am! And who knows, you might learn something too...like I could teach you. You'll probably suck at it but I'm such a good person, I'm willing to teach you anyway and who knows, watching you fall flat on your face in the snow could be fun."

The ship caught a roll of turbulence as it took its first icy skim along the Akillian stratosphere. The crew of the ship took up the speed, looking out of the windows at the white-dotted air that foreshadowed blizzards ahead.  
"Fun for _you_ maybe...I guess I could have a go, if we get a chance," Ebony replied finally, with a half-smile slowly materialising on her lips. "With my natural talent and co-ordination, I'll probably be better than you."

"Whatever! Keep dreaming, loser," he laughed. "So do you play video games?"  
Now it was Ebony's turn to laugh. "Not a chance! Childish, much? I like to _read _in my spare time, like magazines. What about you, do you read?"  
"Read!? No way in hell! Not unless it's the Arcadia Sports reviews of my latest scores, that is...or my new edition card. Have you ever played with football cards?"  
"Once again, what a lot of childish crap!"  
"Geez, you are one boring bitch, Ebony."

"And you are one immature jerk, Sinedd," Ebony sneered back, crossing her legs up on the sofa. "Oh look! You can see the ground now!"  
The players were all, already looking out the windows with watery interest. The ground was a sheet of gleaming white, Sinedd could see from behind the glass. A few sprigs of green foliage littered the snowy earth, patches of jade forest spread out around the craggy grey mountains and silvery, blue paint stains of lakes and rivers were inked out on to the pale, picturesque landscape.

Sinedd pressed his head further in against the glass as buildings slowly began to appear, rising in chrome and tiled out of the swirling green and white. He flinched at the sight of the thimble of a stadium, camouflaged in a white powder and sprayed with ashen shadows.  
Familiar sights and images flooded his brain, some which seemed to be nothing more than distant dreams, rather than memories.  
Aarch Academy...Planet Akillian Café...the Town Centre...the estate where he used to live with his parents...  
The striker squeezed his eyes shut trying to blot out the memories, his forehead aching against the cold glass.

Ebony folded her knees up to her chest, legs and thigh-high socks discreetly covering the open slit in her skirt. "Kinda feels weird, doesn't it? Being back here. If feels like...like..."

Sinedd swallowed. "Like you're at home but not really at home? Like an outsider? Yeah, I've felt that before."  
"I've been feeling like a kind of traitor for a while now," the girl murmured quietly...quietly enough for Sinedd to pretend to not have heard her if he didn't want to. _"How do you cope with it? The feeling that an entire planet that you once called home, kind of hates you now?"_

The ground began to get nearer, their heads becoming lighter and the floor vibrating beneath their feet as the ship prepared to land.  
The door of the main terminal slid open and Artegor walked in, pulling a coat on. "Alright, all of you to the loading bay- we're about to land. I want all of you to be on your best behaviour when we reach Aarch's school."

The players stood up; they were already chanting, chattering and growling to each other in preparation for the upcoming match. Sinedd shrugged his jacket up around his shoulders and smoothed the white sleeves against his arms.  
"Harden up."  
Ebony spun around, pressing her lips together to ensure that they were still sufficiently glossy. "Did you say something, Sinedd?"

"You asked me how I cope with the feeling that I don't belong. Maybe I haven't been living with it my whole life like you must have been, but I harden up and don't show I care. Why should I?" His tone was firm, gruff and pitiless. "So harden the fuck up."

Ebony only raised an eyebrow in reply and made a move to follow Artegor out the door, but Sinedd's arm shot out to bar her exit.  
"Trust me."  
"What?"  
"Toughen up and don't let things get to you as easily as that. Trust me, it'll do you more good than harm."

"Since when did you get so philosophical?"  
"I _have _to win that match today and if we do badly, I'm personally prepared to hold you and your pathetic mood-swings responsible. So toughen up."  
Ebony's face was indifferent as she pulled the tube canister from her pocket, unscrewed the lid and helped herself to two little white pills. Then she smiled and lightly said: "Don't worry, I will."

He warily walked behind the head of smooth, blonde curls for a moment as they filed off into the loading bay after their coach. For that brief moment, the sight of a powdered cheek made him recall the smooth, make-up free skin he had seen the night before and how vulnerable the girl had looked.  
The sudden attention didn't go unnoticed though.  
"_What _are you staring at?"  
"I was just thinking," he said, icily. "You had better not throw up on me during this match."  
The streets outside were (thankfully) quite empty and their ride to the stadium was quiet, Fulmugus being the only one allowed to speak and that was only to review plays. Sinedd looked at the gelled black curls belonging to the coach who sat in front of him.  
_"Does it feel awkward, Artegor," _he wanted to say. _"Returning to the team that you left us for? Do you feel like a traitor too?"  
_The air darkened in the ominous shadow of the stadium that loomed ahead, glistening white and blue even with no sunlight to illuminate it.  
_"You should feel like a traitor...because you are." _

* * *

The weather outside on Akillian was as bitterly, poisonously cold as it had been the day Sinedd had left its surface forever.  
The sky was packed with thousands of glass wool clouds that seemed to shiver when the wind passed over them- just like the Shadows players who stood beneath.  
Planet Shadow was cold but not freezing and most of the players had become grouchy and irritable as they were sorely unused to the sub-zero temperatures.  
And their moods were not helped by the fact that they were being forced to smile and stand in the same room as their opponents, the Snow Kids.

It was bizarre that Aarch and Artegor were friends now. Bizarre and emphatically awkward for their players who were so used to an atmosphere of sharp and sour rivalry and bitterness whenever the two were in the same room.  
"Welcome, Artegor," boomed Aarch, welcoming them into the foyer of the stadium. "It's nice to see you again!"  
"And many happy returns, Aarch," the coach of the Shadows smiled back, accepting the embrace of his happy host. "It is quite nice for all of our players to be together like this."

_Together?  
_Sinedd wanted to burst out laughing at this. The moment the Shadows walked through the door, every voice in the room had dropped to whispering level. The Snow Kids took on the false smiles and niceties with an air of _"do we have to do this, Coach? Couldn't you just make us run laps?" _  
And as for his own beloved coach's observations of "unity", the two teams treated each other as if the other had some kind of deadly disease, the Snow Kids sticking to one side of the room and the Shadows taking the other...both already letting it rip with the insulting comments and the snide side-glances that the all-too-overjoyed coaches chose to overlook.

"So, those are your former team-mates, Sinedd," Ebony whispered, nodding over.  
He gave a sombre nod and a grimace, replying: "Don't remind me that I ever associated with those losers."  
"They won the cup twice," smirked the girl, who had to stand on tiptoe in order to whisper to her rather tall companion. "Some losers..."  
Sinedd rolled his eyes. "I don't mean on the pitch. They're all idiots, really."  
"Wanna get me up to speed on just how "idiotic" they are?" she asked. "Like not how they play, but what they're _like_?"

Sinedd gave a soft laugh. "You just love to get bitchy, don't you? Alright, well Mr Strong and Silent over there with the dread-locks is Rocket. At one stage I actually thought he had some potential but he's just as soft as the rest of them and an arrogant two-faced jerk when he wants to be too. I've seen that guy do things that would make even the skin of his perfect little parents and girlfriend crawl."  
Ebony nodded. "And his "perfect little girlfriend" is the short kid under his arm, Tia, right?"  
"Yeah. Tia's as distant as he is and never puts that damn camera away..."  
"I know. I knew Tia when we were kids...her parents are the Obian Moon Ambassadors and my dad used to have meetings with them. She was one weird kid. The sleeping guy is the goalie, isn't he?"  
"Yeah that's Ahito. If you want a "weird kid" he's like a prime specimen," Sinedd went on. "And that's his brother Thran, the computer nerd. I never really knew their cousin Yuki-she's the one on left- but she _sucks _on goal. Then there's Mei...she's probably as much of a bitch as you are..."  
Ebony smirked again. "But you had a crush on her right?"  
Sinedd smirked back at her. "Does that make you jealous, little girl?"  
"Ugh, you wish. It just means you have awful taste; I'm miles prettier than _that. _So what about them?" she continued, promptly changing the subject.

Sinedd gritted his teeth. "I've known Mark, Micro-Ice and D'Jok since we were kids. Mark's a total wannabe who doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut. Micro-Ice is probably the biggest idiot you'll ever meet- and he's terrified of me too." He stopped to give a short laugh. "And D'Jok...D'Jok is a second rate, whiny, big-headed loser who doesn't deserve _half _what he has."

"Oh yeah, the red-head who with the cocky smile?"  
"That sounds about right. You forgot about his massive, swollen ego that's about as big as his head."  
"Oh well, I'll get a better look at it now...'cos he's coming over."

Sinedd swung around and D'Jok was indeed there, striding over with Micro-Ice and the rest of the team in his wake.  
"It's nice to see you again, Sinedd," he began coolly.  
"Wish I could say the same, loser and you can save your friendly-crap for the cameras," Sinedd spat back.  
D'Jok reeled backwards in mock-surprise. "Hey! So much for trying to be friendly! You can try saving the "competitive spirit" for the pitch!"  
"Oh, just wait until I get out on the pitch D'Jok and I'll remind you just how much "competitive spirit" I can have," Sinedd growled back. "Someone has to show you how to really play after all."  
The Snow Kids star-striker let out a shout of laughter. "Wow Sinedd. You're really eager to bite the dust again aren't you? If history stands, we're the ones who have always been the best."  
Sinedd's eyes narrowed, glinting with malice. "That's about to change..."

Ebony cut across them both. "Be nice to your old team-mates Sinedd! Play nice now."  
But a rather cruel smirk had grown across her face and her own eyes mirroring Sinedd's own dark gleam. She leaned over, looking behind D'Jok. "Hello Tia, nice to see you again."  
Tia's eyes widened. "Ebony! I...er, didn't...well, I didn't know that you...that you played football."  
"Well, I guess even the dimmest of us can learn something new every day," Ebony replied, smiling sweetly and winking at Micro-Ice, (much to Yuki's distaste). "Ah so you must be the famous D'Jok then? Wow...I can't say I'm not impressed..."

Sinedd's jaw slackened. _Where was she taking this?!  
_"...Sinedd's right; your head _is _pretty damn big in person..."

Before D'Jok's face could turn about as red as his hair, the two coaches called their teams from across the room.  
"Come on, time to suit up! Can't keep that crowd waiting!"  
"Fulmugus! Gather your team-mates and report to the changing rooms now."

"See you all on the field!" Ebony squeaked over her shoulder as they turned, voice coated in mocking false-sweetness.  
"Yeah, check you later, losers," smirked Sinedd following his team-mates down an all too familiar hallway to the locker rooms.

"You know that girl?" Rocket asked his pretty little green eyed girlfriend, as the Snow Kids also turned to go.  
Tia nodded. "I knew her when we were younger. Her dad's a diplomat like my parents."  
"Oh...she seems very...outspoken...," commented Thran.  
"She seems _horrible_," said Yuki, folding her arms.  
" She's just plain bad news," murmured Tia. "Like _really _bad news. You wouldn't believe half of the things I've seen her do behind her father's back..."  
"The she should feel right at home with the Shadows!" laughed Micro-Ice.

* * *

The pitch was glacial- icy and cold- but that didn't stop crowds from packing into the stands, their screaming voices filling the thin air. The volume shot up, ten-fold, the moment the players stepped out on to the field.  
Tiny fragments of snow had already begun to cascade down from the silver sky when D'Jok and Sinedd faced each other on the mid-field line.  
Callie's commentary had already started up, buzzing out over the intercom and the usual hush descended over the crowd as D'Jok and Sinedd prepared for the opening jump. The circular chute at their feet opened as the crouched, green eyes blazing into violet.  
"Well, Sinedd," D'Jok smiled. "I'm almost happy for you..."  
"What are you talking about, idiot?" Sinedd hissed.  
"As if you don't know," the other striker had just whispered as the ball shot up into the air.

**"And play has begun!" **announced Callie as the two icons soared into the air with tails of gleaming black and glittering blue wisp rolling from their skin. Their feet seemed to hold the ball, floating there in mid-air, with the sheer power of the kick delivered.  
The desired orb plummeted back down to earth, falling into the possession of Nilhis but it wasn't long before Tia and Rocket's graceful yet fierce _pas de deux _stole it from her.  
The ball leapt, or seemed to leap, from Rocket's possession to that of their captain's. Sinedd could feel the fire igniting in his chest. He sprinted forward, fuelled by the smog and the desperation to win.  
D'Jok was too far ahead though, used to the blistering wind and icy playing field. He battled with the Shadows defence for a moment, dribbling backwards and sideways between soft explosions of the black flux.  
Then on the wings of the breath, he was in the air, staring down at Kai from between the netting. The ball seemed to take on a mind of its own as it spiralled down to the goal.

**"Goal, Snow Kids! Oh, what an exciting way to begin a match, football fans!" **

_"Shit!" _swore Sinedd, watching the number one materialise beneath the Snow Kid's logo. _"That can't happen again."  
_Kai's throw sent the ball flying straight into the Snow Kids' defending end. Thran took it against his chest but Sinedd's burning aggression (and smog) ripped it from Akillian possession in a matter of seconds. Fulmugus was open for a pass, Nilhis trapped behind Micro-Ice's block, but Sinedd ploughed past them both, slicing across the pitch to get a good shot at the goal.  
Yuki was in goal- easy prey as far as Sinedd was concerned- but he still had to beware of Mei and Thran coming in at his back.  
With one flash of the smog, he was on the touch-line. With a second, he was into the air. With one final blast and a powerful, kick the ball was soaring down towards the goal.  
The sprightly, red-haired goal keeper sent the ball flying back with a lithe-armed punch. But Sinedd had anticipated this and with a flash of the smog, he was back behind the ball, on a perfect line to the net.  
**"Goal, Shadows!" **

Sinedd landed and punched the air in triumph, letting the air flood back into his lungs.  
"Yeah..."

* * *

_Harris could hear the television from the next room and although curiosity tempted him to watch the replay of the Snow Kid's second "outstanding goal", but determination drove him into further into his work. He needed to take care of this personally.  
He knew better than to hire someone to do it for him- people let you down. He also certainly knew better than to let one of those tin-cans called serving robots at it. _

_The completion of this device had to be perfect...and virtually untraceable. The vital ammunition of course was still missing but it would be arriving soon.  
A drowning applause and Callie and Nork's shouting sounded out from the television set. The Shadows had scored once again. Harris smiled a little to himself, wondering if the Shadow's second goal was also attributed to his old friend Sinedd.  
His tele-watch began to vibrate. His heart thumped when he saw the caller ID and standing up, he shakily switched it on.  
_

_"Duke Maddox. How are you, your highness?"  
"Ah have no time fer niceties, Harris. Have you taken up yer new position with Mr Appex?"  
"Yes sir, I have."  
"And has the Council of Shade agreed to support Technoid's new campaign?"  
"It's still pending, sir."  
"Oh well...ah see no point in rushin' those Shadow stiffs anyway...we've already got most o' the galaxy on our side at the moment. Stick to yer post fer now an' keep me updated."  
"Sir, may I ask you, will my working patterns allow me to attend the first matches of the Blitz Tournament."  
"Harris, ah never pegged y'all as a football fan but...ah suppose if y'wanna see our V4 boys in action then ah see know reason why you can't attend the next match with Mr Appex and his daughter. With they're permission o'course."  
"Thank you, Sir."  
"Goodbye Harris, I'll be checkin' in on you tomorrow and I'm still expectin' monthly updates of yer progress."  
_

_Harris switched off the watch, turning back to his work. His thoughts were racing with the idea that his plan was in action, fast coming to the crunch. However although he was bound to the Shadow's Planet for now, his scheme was still stationary until the start of the tournament- and if the Shadows did badly in that then things were going to become a lot more difficult.  
He placed another wire into the socket, solidifying the next capsule's launch valve. More screams on the screen announced a third goal for the Shadows.  
_

_The Blitz Tournament would become the stage for his production of a plan and the players would be his actors...and he had one particular player in mind for the lead role..._

* * *

Half time had begun and the score was three to two- the Shadows winning.  
Sinedd's skin started to crawl and shrivel against his bones in the cold. He juggled the ball against his legs and swept it out of Mark's reach once again.  
"Pass forward Sinedd!" roared Artegor. "Pass up and follow, like in training!"

Reluctantly Sinedd relinquished power over the ball, sending a flying pass up to the number twelve player: Ebony. She dribbled upward, ferocity splaying across her face and determination in her eyes. It was the same glittering determination that all newer players had.

She slid around Thran in a shawl of black smog and flitted forward to the goal. Ahito was now in position, squatting and ready for her with his usual half-lidded eyes that masked an intelligent quick witted goal keeper. It was just her luck that they had switched.  
Ebony skittered around the ball, waiting for a clear path and prepared for a kick...with the kind of fierce power she had been practicing.  
WHAM.  
Mei had gracefully looped around her side and pushed the ball out from between her feet with a teasing kind of indifference. The sharpness of the experienced defender's movements sent Ebony stumbling sideways, drunkenly.  
Her eyes narrowed at the back of the brunette's head. "Alright, sweetie..."  
Ebony sprinted after Mei, wrath tainting each of her actions. She dropped to the frozen ground of a pitch and one blow to the shins sent the pretty Snow Kids defender slapping hard into the pitch.  
Mei looked dizzily up at a smirking, sneering Ebony who was already rolling the ball beneath her foot, happy with her prize.  
"I never _did _think that Gumble Shampoo did that much for my hair anyway..."  
"Wha-?"

But the referee-bot was more sympathetic to a now glaring, fiercely angry Mei. The Snow Kids were awarded a free kick.  
"_Who does that bitch think she is!?"  
"How does she get the nerve to say that to me!?"_  
Upon going up to accept it, Mei's arm had to be grabbed by D'Jok to prevent her from paying Ebony back for their little tumble- Ebony in turn being restrained by a sniggering Sinedd.  
"Down, girl. Let's not give them two penalties now. _Play nice._"

"Woah, major cat-fight about to break out!" laughed Micro-Ice as Mei lined up for her shot.  
She scored and they were at a draw. 3 all and with only seven minutes of play left.  
Kai blocked Tia's shot and sent the ball back into a flurry of players, black and glowing blue zig-zagging across the pitch in a thrilling game of high-speed pinball.  
"We need that last goal!" hissed Artegor. "Come on! Push yourselves!"

Fulmugus took a shot but it bounced off side. Sinedd watched the Snow Kids disperse and re-position themselves, ready for Ahito's throw-out.  
Sinedd grabbed Ebony's shoulder. "I know this play..."  
"Good for you!" she whispered back. "So do I! We've been practicing this for what, three weeks?"  
"No, dopey! I know the Snow Kids' play, they used to use it when I was still with them. D'Jok is going to take the shot...Mark and Tia are gonna move in as fall-backs...Micro-Ice is gonna mark you."

Ebony wrinkled her nose. "The short guy? No problem for me."  
"He knows this one though and he and his boyfriend's beloved "team work" always manages to get a ball into the back of the net...even I block D'Jok, Micro-Ice will still..." Sinedd's eyes widened and his lips curled into a smile. "I have an idea..."  
"Enlightening," muttered Ebony. "Now can I get into place?"  
Sinedd lowered his lips to her ear. "When Micro-Ice comes near you, I want you to..."

Ahito sent the ball rocketing out from the top bar and it was quickly taken in by Mark. He cut past Nilhis and Fulmugus and passed it forward to D'Jok .  
"Ok...," thought Sinedd, watching his adversary battle through the Shadows' defence.  
He dove through past Tia and Mei, eyes locked D'Jok's every move. The breath that materialised around his feet foreshadowed a powerful kick.  
Micro-Ice was already running up the side, darting in front of the second Shadows striker to prevent her from assisting her team-mates.

Sinedd watched as his premonition became a reality.  
D'Jok leapt into the air- a glowing, neon blue nymph and the ball was celestial at his knee. His leg swung backwards, his mouth stretching open in a silent scream of adrenaline. Below him, Kai braced himself in the netting.  
"Oh no, D'Jok," breathed Sinedd. "Not this time."

The dark striker vanished in a smoky haze and re-appeared at the Snow Kid's chest. After a violent clash in mid-air, the two players fell back to earth, D'Jok flinging the ball back to Micro-Ice.  
However before the plucky little striker could jump to receive the masterful pass, Ebony leaned down to his shoulder in an abrasive "tackle" and whispered: _"Hey cutie..." _

Micro-Ice reeled backwards as if he had just received an electric shock- letting the ball fly past his shoulder. Ebony caught it against her chest and sent it straight to Sinedd.  
"GO!"

He was already there, smog veiling his feral, pale face and the intensity in his stare as he neared the goal.  
_20 seconds left...  
_He battled around the Snow Kids mid-field forces, evaporated past their defence. The Shadows' prince cemented his glare on the back of the net, watching Ahito's every move as the goal-posts became larger and larger, coming closer into view.  
The clock continued to race down as he entered the penalty area.  
"Come on Sinedd!" shouted Artegor. "You can do this!"

Sinedd shot the ball into the stadium's roof, spiralling after it in a shower of obsidian haze. For a split second, he seemed to hover in the icy air. The crowd watched, dumbfounded, as his flux grew and completely masked his long slender body as he leaned back into his final shot...

_Four...three...two...one... _

A siren went off, signalling the end of the match. Sinedd landed, smog clearing and curling away with the fragments of snow that sprinkled down. For a moment, there was such a silence in the stadium that you could practically _hear_ these flakes fall... and then...

**"GOAL, SHADOWS! That's it everybody! The Shadows have won!" **

Sinedd felt himself being punched by Fulmugus, pushed by Nilhis and Artegor was already voicing his appreciation on the mike system.  
"We won! Yeah!"  
"Yeah! We beat 'em, we-"

Sinedd and Ebony spun towards each other arms outstretched for an embrace, but sharply retracting them again, as if merely stretching or flexing. Sinedd held up a hand with a smirk, offering a high five instead.  
"Oops! Too slow!" he sneered pulling it away. Ebony rolled her eyes.  
"Typical."  
She was about to turn away, but Sinedd grabbed her wrist and pulled her palm into a firm handshake against his.

This time they had to shout to be heard over the crowd.  
"What's gotten into you, Snow-balls?!"  
"That's for your little game with Micro-Ice...the look on his face was priceless!"

And he left it at that before jogging down the pitch to a very well deserved gloating session with D'Jok...

* * *

One of the things that Sinedd loved about being with the Shadows was that seeing as the majority of the team were legal, Artegor had no problem with letting his team celebrate their wins with a little drink.  
Or a lot of drinks.

Sinedd leaned in on the bar-stool, taking another sip of tequila. He let out a cheer with the team-mates both beside him and on the dance floor as they played another epic replay of the star striker's final shot. Back on Planet Shadow, their favourite bar "Vortex" loved football and just loved to display all of their favourite re-runs all over the plasma screens whenever they had the chance.  
"Promotion in return for celebrity endorsement," chuckled Kai, ordering another drink. "Where's coach?"  
"Artegor just wanted to sleep!" laughed Fulmugus. "Said that we had a tough week ahead of us so we'd all better not wake up tomorrow with too much of a hangover."

The pumping music sent ripples glittering through the surface of Sinedd's drink, creasing his reflections. Blurry memories of the match raced through his mind. For a moment there, on the pitch on Akillian, when the crowd cheered...he'd almost felt...like he was back home again...for real...

"Hey honeys!" giggled Ebony, strutting over with a face as pink as the drink she was holding. "How are my f-favourite boys!"  
She promptly took the empty stretch of bar between Fulmugus and Sinedd. She looked up at the striker through her eyelashes, blowing a fluffy blonde ringlet from her face. "How _you_ doin' Snow-Balls?"  
Sinedd laughed. "Can you still stand? Fuck, Ebony, between the smoking, the drugs and now the alcohol...how else do you get high?"  
The half-drunk striker giggled again. "I'll have you know, _Sinedd, _that _young ladies_ do not "get _high_"!"

"Yes, but you, _Ebony, _are no _lady_!"  
He was half expecting a hard punch in the arm but instead she just went on laughing and took another gulp of her drink. "Well, can't argue with you there!"

Another loud rock number began to blast from the speakers; Ebony's eyes widened. "Oh I love this song!" She grabbed Sinedd's wrist. "Come on, Sinedd, dance with me."

Fulmugus exploded with laughter.  
"No, Ebony," said Sinedd withdrawing his hand. "I think you're just that bit too drunk to know what you're saying and...I don't dance."  
She pouted like a toddler. "Oh come on, Sinedd!" She ran her hand back through her hair and dropped her voice down to a seductive purr, swinging her hips from side to side. "Don't make me beg..."  
"Yeah, Sinedd!" laughed Kai. "Don't make her beg now!"

He reluctantly let himself be dragged on to the dance floor. It really wasn't that he couldn't dance, he just didn't particularly like to do it in front of all his team-mates (who had consumed a lot of alcohol) and with a half-drunk partner whom he wasn't particularly that fond of, (even in that _very _appealing black cut-dress).

"Wow, you're actually kind of good at this Sinedd," Ebony smirked as the two of them swayed to the music.  
"But you can only dance when you're _not _sober, right, blondie?" he laughed back.  
She gave him a thump in the arm but then playfully ground her hips against his. "Hey, what did we say about calling me that? And I think I can dance pretty well..."  
"Yeah, _you _would. Are you always this sociable when you're drunk?"

Ebony smirked and draped an arm around his neck. "You're never _normally _this fun when you're sober?"  
"Well, maybe not around you," Sinedd smirked back, tucking an arm around her waist.

"Smile for the camera!" shouted Fulmugus, snapping a quick photo of them.  
They sprang apart, enraged and red faced and then looked at each other for a moment.

"I'll hold him steady..."  
"And I'll break that damn camera..."

_

* * *

_

Yeah...probably not the best chapter but all the same, I hope you enjoyed.


	10. Heat

_For some reason the formatting messed up on the last one and things as things that I wanted in bold type ended up not in normal type and a lot of the main text ended up that in italics (o.O) My apologies for any confusion that may have caused. _

_On to chapter ten!  
(The theme song of this chapter would probably be "Toxic" by Britney Spears purely for the lyrics- think about them...it makes sense. XD) _

_

* * *

_

_"I'm almost happy for you, Sinedd."  
His words rang in the dark striker's ears. What had that idiot D'jok meant? _

The first match of the Blitz Tournament had been drawn up that morning and sure enough, the Shadows were going to be playing in it.  
It would be the Shadows versus the Cyclops hosted on the Shadow's own planet.

Even against a fairly rag-tag team like the Cyclops, (who were more comical than stunning to watch and came with their own record of cheating), Artegor insisted his team train until their feet bled.  
That was precisely why it was so strange that Coach Nexus had let them off for the day.

The other players figured that it had something to do with Fulmugus making the valid point that if anger and insecurity fuelled the smog- then using it with a severe hangover (attributed to nine tequilas, two shots of vodka and a lot of heavy metal) could be a little dangerous.  
The coach himself was a too busy designing the plays for the upcoming tournament and getting ready to receive a foreign team to argue.  
So the team got the day off.

* * *

Artegor could hear the distant echoes of shouts from outside his window- familiar voices too.  
"Not at this hour," the severely over-stressed coach murmured, getting up from his desk. "I swear to Obscurantis, if those two are fighting again, I will take a hold of both of their heads and..."  
He grabbed the clasp of the window, about to rip it open and scream down the culprits who were distracting him from his work, but then he stopped.  
His two strikers were indeed bellowing abuse at each other...but only because they were playing one on one. Sinedd and Ebony were chasing each other across the grounds outside the stadium, viciously fighting for possession of the green ball that bounced between them.  
He watched, smiling a little, as his newest player picked up the ball and sprinted across the pitch and his protégé followed, screaming that she "was cheating...cheating really badly!"  
He pelted after her, grabbed her by the sides and tried the wrench the ball from her grip- the two of them laughing wildly in the process.  
Artegor sighed and shook his head, leaning against the window, as their laughter melted and intensive, competitive rivalry resumed. "_Kids,"_ he thought. _"At their age..."  
"They had better not ever do that on the pitch though...," _he added, thinking again.

* * *

Most of the other players had jetted off home or into the city for the day. Sinedd had turned down Fulmugus' offer to join the gang for a trek around the town and having no family on Shadow to return home to, decided to spend the day at the academy. It was the perfect time to relax...no training sessions...no one hogging the TV...

So if it was the perfect day of relaxation then what the hell was he doing out in the grounds playing one on one with Ebony?  
It had started with a verbal assault on his tackling skills and ended with him grabbing the blonde striker by the wrist and dragging her outside to prove himself- something that Sinedd could never resist doing. _  
_

Sinedd took another deep breath of the hot, dry air and swerved around his newly found rival and made another sharp kick against her shin, trying to throw her off balance.  
Thanks once again to the explosion that had taken place almost a year ago, the Shadows' atmosphere had cleared and the weather was steadily improving. It was a beautifully sunny day; the sheer golden beams shot through the swirling, shimmering obsidian craters that surrounded the grounds of the training complex, casting glittering silhouettes across the ground. It was as if dawn had finally come to the planet of eternal eclipse.

Ebony rolled the ball beneath her foot, skittering left and then right, Sinedd towering at her back.  
"So," he breathed between advances. "Not off to see daddy today?"  
She spun around, flicking the ball out of his reach. "To do what? Sit there and have him lecture me? Besides, he's working..."  
Sinedd wrenched the ball out from her ankles and dribbled teasingly backwards, delighting in the frustrated expression that came across her face as she tried to follow his fierce, fluid movements.  
"By the way," she added. "I didn't get the chance to ask him about this "Harris" of yours but according to my sister, he has a new Technoid representative visiting lately. Is that of any use to you?"

"Well, no...not exactly..."  
"Would it kill you to say thanks anyway?"  
"What the hell am I thanking you for? You got me nothing!"

She made a quick movement, set to cut into his intricate footwork, but he shrugged off her advances as effortlessly as if she was a tackling dummy.  
Sinedd's thoughts were racing again. _  
"I don't know about that freak Harris,"_ he thought to himself. "_But Bleylock...he definitely did...Bleylock...used me...."_  
But he shook off those thoughts before the sunk in, as easily as he shook off Ebony's flicks against his shins.

He darted around her back, teasing her from behind and letting the ball slip in and out of her possession. She swung an arm backwards, trying to steady herself in his unnerving presence. Every time Ebony turned around to seize control of the ball, Sinedd turned too, so that he remained at her back. Smirking, Sinedd lowered his lips to the side of her face and blew a little air against her ear.  
She jumped with a cry.  
"Hey! Watch it!"  
"You seemed to like getting close last night," the dark striker laughed.  
She rolled her eyes. "I was half-drunk...all I can remember is asking for a double on the rocks...chasing Fulmugus for some reason and...well, dancing with you, I guess." She gave him a wry smile from over her shoulder.  
Truthfully, swaying around with him to the music was probably her only vivid memory of the evening. His shining violet eyes...his arm around her waist...his body gracing hers...

"So Artegor caved about letting us off today," she stated, twirling around him and making another swipe at the ball.  
"Yes. Way to go, Miss-State-The-Obvious," Sinedd retorted, dribbling away again. "I guess it's because Fulmugus asked him..."  
"Don't worry, you're still the Coach's pet," she giggled. "Snow-balls..."  
"I think you're just jealous, blondie."

She frowned, slicing towards him. "Jealous of the fact that you're Artegor's golden boy or of your wonderful nickname?"  
He stuck his tongue out at her, letting her try to tackle him again.  
"Ugh, childish," she said, haughtily, but she stuck her tongue back out at him, laughing.

Sweat began to glisten on both of their bodies, pale skin starting to gleam as brightly as the shimmering rocks that surrounded them. Sinedd leapt up against one, taking the ball up with him. He gave a swift glance over his shoulder to check that she was beneath him; satisfied that she was, Sinedd curved his spine and did an effortless back-flip straight over her head, landing on his feet with the ball between his ankles.  
Sinedd straightened up, smiling triumphantly and holding his arms outstretched with flourish. "And all without the smog."

She sighed, throwing her eyes up to heaven and gave him a slow, sarcastic round of applause. "Wonderful...absolutely wonderful...you must have-"  
"Impeccable skill?"  
"A _lot _of time on your hands."

Sinedd paused, raising his eyebrows. "When you don't cling to someone else 24/7, you have all the time you need to perfect what you're already amazing at."  
"You like being alone?" Ebony asked offhandedly, making a grab for the ball. "All the time?"  
"Yes!" Sinedd replied, swinging the ball out of her reach again. "As a matter of fact I do!"

He tossed the ball to the ground and began their awkward little step-for-two again. She  
"You like to hang around me though, don't you?" she asked coyly, batting her eyelids over her shoulder at him and twirling her necklace around her finger.  
"Yeah...I guess I do..."

Ebony tripped over her own feet in surprise. Had Sinedd actually said something _nice _to her?  
The black haired player snorted with laughter at the look on her face.  
"Of course I love to hang around with you, Ebony. Playing around with someone as talentless as you reminds me of how good _I_ am! Ha-ha-uh- _hey_!"

Ebony had stolen the ball, now dribbling away from him, cackling away to herself with mirth. Sinedd was at her back again, relentless in his attempts to wrangle the ball away from her.  
She stole another breath, face flushed beneath her unruly hair. "Are you sure that you're really that good?"  
"I know I am," he panted. "I know I'm the best there is. I just need the right chance to show it to the galaxy!"  
In one swift, sharp motion, he drew the ball from her tenure, his legs slicing at hers like a knife. Ebony stumbled forwards with a squeal, then drawing herself back to full height (which wasn't much in comparison to Sinedd's) and composure, put her hands on her hips. "Now, where did you learn a move like that?"

"Netherball," smirked Sinedd, toying with her gaze in the sunlight as he shuffled from side to side with the ball. "That's a game where you can learn some _real _moves..."

"Ah yes," she said mockingly. "Your beloved Netherball. The _real _ footballer's game of one on one."  
"It's not as simple as that. Playing in the Sphere was like playing in a nightmare," he retorted, blocking her advances. "There were all sorts of traps in there. You'd _need _to learn a few moves like that just to get out without an injury."

There were some nights Sinedd woke up, eyes burning and mouth dry from screaming. He refused to go to any kind of help-group or rehab that Artegor had offered him, (after the coach had of course, royally kicked his ass for playing such a sport in the first place). The dark haired young man had dealt with enough pain in his life already. He would not let the career that brought him the fame and glory he deserved be tainted by that pain.  
Sinedd's skin had hardened to flint over the years. Flinted stone that nothing could shatter, not D'Jok's taunting about his lack of friendship, not a poisonous flux, not a strange planet or an empty room and definitely not some game, vicious as it may have been...  
"Rocket," he had once reflected, staring at the bare black ceiling of his room on a sleepless night. "You and I are alike in so many ways...but I don't need anyone to cry to when I'm in trouble. No mommy...no daddy...no girlfriend..."

Ebony's purring voice jerked him out of his trance. "Heh, it's kind of stupid if you ask me."  
"What is?" Sinedd rolled the ball safely behind his ankle in case she was only trying to distract him again.  
"The whole idea of Netherball...I mean, what's the point of killing yourself over some silly little scuffles that mean _nothing_ and are probably going to screw up your real matches that actually do count! I mean look what happened with you in that Pirates match. Your ankle was pretty damn busted..."  
For a brief moment, Sinedd badly wanted to throw a good hard punch into her stomach and wipe the smile off her freshly pink face. But for some reason that he couldn't quite place, futile embarrassment got the better of the rippling anger inside of him. "You saw that?"

She nodded. "Just because I've never played professionally, doesn't mean I was never a fan of the home team."  
There was a tentative silence and then Sinedd burst out laughing, doubling over.

"W-what?" she stuttered. "What's so funny?"  
"I knew it! Oh Ebony, if I had known all this time that you really were some kind of closet fan!" he choked between shouts of laughter. "I bet you secretly have a life-long subscription to my fan-club!"  
Ebony blushed. "I said I was a fan of the TEAM, you vain idiot! Stop laughing! Your FAN CLUB!? You wish!"

What happened next was a little unclear.  
Ebony had made a fierce assault on Sinedd, trying to rip the ball away from him. Sinedd had raised an iron defence and tackled her back with the same force.  
And somehow, between all of that, the ball had managed to send itself flying out from between the two of them and direct itself on to a straight path for Artegor's window.  
CRASH!

Glass splinters sprinkled to the ground as the furious coach's face appeared in the newly formed peep-hole.  
Both players automatically sprang backwards, raising their hands with an air of "I didn't do it!"

"That was SO your fault!"  
"My fault!? It was you who kicked the damn thing!"  
"No I did not!"  
"YES! You did!"

"BOTH OF YOU!" Artegor bellowed. "THAT IS ENOUGH! If you are both so eager to play football on your day off, then you can both get into the holo-trainer RIGHT NOW and spend the rest of the evening IN TRAINING!"

He removed his sunglasses. There was no arguing when Artegor removed his sunglasses.  
Swearing and shoving at each other, the two of them trudged out of the grounds and into the building.  
By chance, Fulmugus happened to be passing by, (or rather escaping from a hoard of photographers by hiding in the foyer) and he spotted them.  
"Hey Sinedd, Ebony...where are you two off to?"

Sinedd grunted as he passed. "Thanks to _her, _we're going to work in the holo-trainer until our legs fall off...on our _day_ _off._.."  
Fulmugus stared after them for a moment.

"Oh...is that what your kind are calling it nowadays?"

* * *

"Finally," breathed Harris. "The new device is finished..."  
He reached behind his desk and drew out a metal suitcase, clicking it open with a kind of rushed desperation.  
His tired, lined face was lit up in the dim glow of the flux capsules encased inside. A beautiful glow that held the deadly power of all the best players in the galaxy. Rocket...Kernor...Stephens...Wuwambu...Warren...Luur...Sinedd...  
Netherball had been a great disguise for the harvesting of these fluxes and all that power did not deserve to go to a madman like Bleylock.  
Harris had _other plans_ for it.

"Ah yes, my friend," he whispered, delicately lifting the capsules. "I promised that we would rule the galaxy side by side one day...and our reign begins on the first day of the Blitz Tournament..."

* * *

A siren blared and the score-board illuminated another goal.  
Sinedd and Ebony danced around each other in the dim light of the pitch. Artegor had confined them to the holo-trainer for the whole evening.  
There was an overbearing silence as the two strikers, now fully kitted out in their training gear, went to war. The smog blasted into the hot air around them, filling the room and cloaking it in a strange gleaming black gauze.  
Every few moments their eyes would bear into each other, trying to pierce the other's indifferent façade behind a veil of smoky flux.  
A magician's performance had begun in midfield, the two players disappearing and reappearing in the air and on the ground, shooting after the coveted neon green orb that ricocheted between them. First to six goals won that round.  
Neither was prepared to give up.  
It was just a training session, (one that Artegor wasn't even bothering to watch), but a kind of common adrenaline had set in. Pride, frustration and a desire to prove themselves filled the atmosphere, laced with the smog's toxic kiss.

Soon the score was tied. Five all.  
The chase up and down the pitch, the flashing game of table-tennis, had given way to a relentless tango in mid-field. The ball shuffled between their feet with a kind of rhythm that had just set in.  
Step. Kick. Step. Block. Kick. Parry. Change.  
Sometimes he would dominate.  
Then she would.  
Neither seemed to hold the lead for too long...did either of them want to?  
Sinedd lip curled beneath the cover of his flux. Having a partner of his own senseless drive and capacity to play ferociously was almost...amusing...  
"But all games need a winner," he reminded himself.

"Ready to give up yet? Like you really have a chance at all."  
"Not a chance," she hissed, blowing her smog into his face. "And could you please stop talking while we play? The only thing more annoying than your attitude is your voice."  
"Oooh," he mocked sarcastically. "That hurt, princess, that really hurt..."

The tempo set back in, the air heavy around them, both intoxicated by the other's scent. Now and then, their bodies made brief contact and it was impossible to tell whose flux belonged to whom. They exchanged smirks beneath tousled hair, glances that burned with adrenaline.  
Both players were acutely aware of their closeness...the warmth of the other's body...the chill of the other's smog...

Ebony was the first to break their rhythm, ramming herself into Sinedd's shoulder all of a sudden.  
He let out a cruel laugh and shoved her back with virtually no effort.  
"Getting aggressive, are we girlie? You know, I think you should play for the Rykers, Ebony. I mean, you've totally got the face for it and your singing voice could pass for the Metal Yell any day!"

She grimaced and laced her leg around his, trying to yank the ball back into her control.  
"Oh yeah? Well I think you should play for the _Xenons _because...b-because..."

She stumbled. Her leg had become locked between Sinedd's, her curls falling back over her face as she slowly raised her eyes to meet his.  
"Why, Ebony? Do you feel... the ...Heat?"  
It was a cheesy pun of a comeback but the dark striker's words faltered as they came from his lips.

The smog had encased them both.  
They were standing body to body, the ball trapped beneath Ebony's foot, her leg locked between his and their torsos pressed against one and other.  
Their eyes caught each other in a snare again. Both could feel the breath of the other on their face, the racing thump of the other's heart in their chest, the soft contours of the other's body beneath the material of the training jerseys...  
For a brief moment, they were frozen there, her face tilted upwards and his bent...inches away... slowly getting closer...both closed their eyes...

_"No," _Sinedd told himself_. "I can't be distracted by anyone. I don't **need **anyone."_

Sinedd's eyelids snapped apart and his body jerked into action. He sharply stole the ball from Ebony and with a single blast of the smog, sent a fast, power-loaded ball flying into the back of the net.

"That makes six," he smirked to the stunned blonde. "I win."

* * *

_Yep, that's ten. I hope you enjoyed it! Review, comment and critique as you see fitting. I know it's a lot shorter than usual and probably (once again) not a greatly epic chapter in itself.  
Once again, I hope you liked it! Thanks for reading and sorry for any format errors.  
:D_


	11. Haunted

_Thanks again for all the reviews! You guys are great!  
**Muffin'sBack **has given me the awesome suggestion to write a chapter from Ebony's POV and as unpopular as it may make me, that's what I'm gonna do for this one! Thanks so much **Muffin'sBack **! This chapter is dedicated to you! _

_The theme song of this chappie is "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga...XD..."caught in a bad romance" and such... _

* * *

He had deceived her...taken total advantage of her sudden emotions...and to add insult to injury, added a pretty good pun there too.

_"Oh yeah? Well I think you should play for the Xenons because...b-because..."  
"Why, Ebony? Do you feel... the ...Heat?"_

_"I get it, the Xenon's flux is called "the Heat"...oh ha-ha-ha...," _she thought, coldly and somewhat bitterly. But it wasn't like she hadn't felt something, at all.  
Right now, as the blonde haired footballer stared blankly out the window of her room on to the sparse, black, desolate landscape of planet Shadow, all she was feeling were the usual cravings in the pit of her stomach.  
It was an hour after morning training, her body still damp beneath her bathrobe from the shower, and her body was screaming for the smog again.  
Ebony had been trying to ignore the urges for that burning in her lungs for just about ten minutes now. She lay back on the bed, pressing her damp ringlets further into the pillow and gritting her teeth behind gloss-coated lips.  
"Come on...be strong...you don't need it, you don't need it, you don't need it...screw it, I need it!"

She sat up frantically, sucking air through her cemented bite and rifling in her bedside locker for the new canister she had managed to acquire. Ebony ripped the seal open, almost wildly, not even bothering to read the label.  
She knew what it said: **"Metholine: Artificial Flux Substitute, Sedative and Pain-killer _do not excessively use or exceed recommended dose. Prescription drug. Highly Addictive..." **

Whatever.  
She slapped two pills straight down, feeling them coursing, pulsing down her throat. The girl always wondered why people thought the smog was so cold and evil when it could feel so good inside of her...  
It was only misunderstood.  
Like other things... other people...

She cursed herself for such thoughts and scorned the redness in her face that she could see in the mirror. Ebony smoothed her hair back from her face and wiped back the excess mascara with a handful of tissue, making a mental note to buy water-proof next time: it didn't run as easily with a little bit of "emotional moisture."  
The newest Shadow's player slowly dissected her mind as a shaky hand, obsessively applied another layer of make-up. Appearance meant everything in this industry and she had to survive in it.  
Her father was always quick to remind her of that.

She glanced nervously over at the holo-phone on her desk; he was late to call today. It was all probably to do with his latest business ventures with Technoid- it didn't have anything to do with the fact that he was coming to the match today: Ebony convinced herself of that.  
But it still didn't stop her getting even more anxious.

"It isn't like Papa _stalks _me or anything...he just cares about me," she told herself furtively, as she painted her lips a glossier pink. "And he gets me to call him all the time because he's working and never gets to see me in person...see? That's logic."  
She smiled haughtily at her reflection in the mirror for a moment, practicing as always, before wandering back over to the bed and her open holo-magazine.  
The latest story was all about the rumours that Warren, Mr Galactik Football himself, was getting an application for rehab because of his affiliations to a "dangerous un-named sport". Part of her wondered if that had any connection with her sparring partner's beloved "Netherball." If that was the case, then maybe there _was_ a little evil to it.

The idea of rehab seemed even more evil to her, though.  
Ebony's father had suggested a week there before, but she had turned it sharply down.  
"I don't need any help...I'm not _insane _or anything...it's just a _condition_."  
Besides, so what if she needed a little chemical pick-me-up every time she felt the need to use the smog? That came second to being the best she could be in all that she was good at- those things mainly being football and being noticed.  
"I have to do well this time...no more screwing up..."

From her window on Shadow, there wasn't much to see; everything on Planet Shadow was underground, deep in the bowels of the planet. The upper layer was just shiny black cliffs, massive daggers of tar-coloured rock and erratic obsidian stones stretching out over the infertile surface for miles on end.  
Still, she was thankful that the Shadow's training compound, (or at least some of it), was located where it could find the sunlight.  
Ebony could still remember those days when she was a child and the night seemed endless.

_"Papa, I don't like all the dark! When will the light come back in?!"  
"Ebony! Stop being so perfectly childish! You know that we are underground...now stop whining like a baby and get dressed- Mr Taruja will be here soon." _

Her father had employed a tutor to come see her each day, probably out of kindness more than anything. She knew even at that age that she didn't look like anyone else on the planet. She could use the smog like them. She didn't mind the cold like them. Her skin was pale like theirs and her body was nice and thin like theirs.  
But she wasn't like them because her mother had been an outsider from a foreign planet.  
The other children at school would still tease her for her "yellow, twisty hair" and "bright, watery eyes." So she learned from the home until she had grown up enough not to care.

Her wonderful little sister of course, was a different story. Violet (or _Viola_, her proper Shadowarian name, Papa always insisted on calling her) was born looking like her father. Her facial structure vaguely resembled that of an Akillian girl, but her pretty red-flecked eyes and white hair and curve-less body made her perfectly eligible to feel totally at home in a normal school on Planet Shadow.  
And she was really smart too, finishing off her own education in a Grammar School in the heart of the underground city. The perfect child.

"She looks up to you, Ebony," someone had once told her.  
"What's there to look up to?" she thought cynically.  
But maybe they were right. Violet had sent her an e-card after her first match with the Wambas loaded with childish, pettish praise and overflowing with her shy little sibling's affections.

_"Hey Ebony! You were brilliant in your match! Wait until I tell everyone that my sister is a famous football player..." _

How sweet...but it was hardly going to help her get any better on the pitch in any way. That was her own her burden- to push herself as hard as possible to keep up with the amazing skills of the other Shadows players.  
It wasn't the same as playing one on one with her mother on the garden patio- not half as gentle or even as fun. Those memories...learning those first few moves...tackling her mother, laughing...telling her beloved mom how she was going to be "just like you" when she grew up...

Ebony slammed her forehead against the pillow, trying to blot out those memories and the stinging in her eyes. Another pill was forced down her throat.

"No," she told herself, shaking a little as she undid the bathrobe and started to dress. "I am not like you, mom...I'm not trying to be the nicest lady in the whole galaxy...I'm not running off on my problems like you did...I'm not now, nor will I ever be some bloke's toy like you were to dad...I'm no small-time footballer either. I'm a star now..."

The media had certainly lapped up the story of the high-society girl becoming a football player with zeal. The coverage was giving her the status she needed to keep her father impressed and the thirst of her pride quenched. Her image was already printed on the cover of _GalactikGirl _magazine, suited up in her number twelve jersey and smirking primly from beneath her curtain of curls.  
"The first of many," she primly reminded herself, striking another pose in front of the mirror. She loved this particular outfit from the way the shirt clung to her expertly flattened stomach and the way the skirt hugged her hips. It certainly turned heads too...but maybe not the jet-black head of hair that she wanted to turn...  
She bit her lip and banished the idea from her mind.

Fame had certainly brought some "advantages". But that wasn't to say that it hadn't brought some nasty little surprises too.  
A hundred and one rumours about her had already begun to circulate, including one particularly ugly suggestion that her and the moody striker that she played beside, had been playing their own little "games" off the pitch...and between the sheets.

"Well, what did you expect?" Nilhis had commented after weathering Ebony's violent reaction upon seeing the article. "You two are pretty close..."

Ebony could only stare at her incredulously.

"It's true!" she went on. "You two are pretty damn close. But look, no one reads this trash anyway and I've had way worse printed about me, so..."

"CLOSE!" Ebony shrieked. "How can you say that!? Me and that...that..._that! _Don't make me laugh; no, don't make me _vomit_."  
Nilhis gave a soft snort of laughter. "You two _are, _though. You're always chatting away to him in training and picking fights with him and tackling each other on the pitch...and hanging around in each other's rooms between practice sessions. Come on, at least admit that you're friends..."

The striker glowered at the mid-fielder, forehead wrinkling in frustration. "No we are not. The idiot..._entertains _me."  
It was true though. The two had been spending a lot of time together since the incident in the holo-trainer.  
Yesterday she had been upstairs with him, while he showed her his newest magna-board.

_"It's a piece of plastic..."  
"State of the art. Expertly balanced for an expert."  
"It's a really long piece of plastic..."  
"Yeah, maybe to someone who's never seen me shred snow with it! I wouldn't expect a prissy little girl like you to understand the power in this. But like I said, I'll show you. I'll show you why I'm the best..." _

Just last night she had sat in front of him while Artegor made the team take notes on their plays.  
It was pretty boring but Ebony knew that she couldn't afford to lose any of Nexus' valuable coaching and did her utmost to take down every single diagram exactly as he displayed them on the holo-screen.  
Of course, this was rather hard to do when her seat was being kicked and her neck, prodded by the deviously smirking striker behind her.  
Ebony was just as guilty. Every single time Artegor turned his back, she swung straight around and tossed a crumpled paper wad straight into his face that he tried to block with the air of a league-experienced goalie.

_"Missed again! And the crowd goes wild!"  
"Just you wait...I'll get you in your sleep! "  
She stuck her tongue out. He leaned forward.  
"Come get me right now!" he taunted, playful smirk that almost masked the aggression in his eyes.  
"EBONY! SINEDD! Pay attention!" _

Artegor's sharp, annoyed complaints were becoming less and less severe as the childish teasing of his two human players became more and more common.  
However, as irritating and headache inducing as it was, it certainly made the long sessions in the briefing room a little less boring. Made it all a little more bearable.

She unzipped her gear back and did a last check, face growing hot as she looked at the crease where she had lain in her pillow last night.  
All she could think about was all about their battle in the holo-trainer.  
The heat.  
Their closeness.  
His breath on her lips.  
His heart beating against hers.  
It wasn't like she hadn't imagined it sometimes, when she stared at those broad shoulders and those jet black spikes. Her heart began to pound and her cheeks ran into a flush.  
It persisted to a point in which her own vulnerability disgusted her. Ebony would throw her head back and remind herself of how successful, beautiful...powerful she believed herself to be.  
But all it took was the brief memory of his hands on her shoulders or his grin just centimetres from her throat to set her off trembling again.  
She hated battling with her own emotions and desires. Nothing could come before her pursuit of fame and no one could come before herself.

Ebony slugged off another pill down her throat, relishing the automatic high it brought her to and how it seemed to vaporise all her worries. She tucked the canister back into the pocket of her bag and closed her eyes as the usual wave of artificial smog rippled down her trachea.  
Ah...how relaxing...

She flinched in shock as the holo-phone behind her glinted to life. Not wanting to keep her father waiting, she hurried over to the key-board to accept the call...only it wasn't a call.  
It was a message. Ebony opened it cautiously.

**Ebony-  
This is your father. I cannot make my usual check-in as I have an important board meeting to attend. Your sister and I will be attending today's match. I am sure that you will do well.  
Do not allow my presence to distract you. **

**Diplomat: T.L. Appex  
(aka. Father) **

**P.S.- Remember, you must stay focused at all times and concentrate on your goals. Not just the ones that you will score today. **

"Whatever, Papa."  
She deleted the message, feeling both dejected and oddly relieved. Whichever this feeling really was just enough to set Ebony's fidgeting off again and wake the ache in the pit of her stomach.  
She fumbled in her pocket for the desired canister. Her blurring vision traced the label as the desire for more toxic fluids started to torment her again. It was useless to say "no" to the cravings; there was a warning on the container against exceeding a daily dose but what damage could just one more do?

Ebony swallowed another small, dry capsule. Her body rejoiced at the sweet adrenaline, the numbing of her senses, the feeling of superiority that the smog always brought her...

She took in one last glance at herself in the mirror, shrugging her training bag up on to her shoulder.  
Her cheeks were flushing a peony pink, looking like doll-spots against her sickly white skin and her eyes were a little wider than usual, blue and framed by a ring of smoky black eyeliner.  
Her appearance normally made her feel confident, but not this time.

Maybe it was something to do with the upcoming match and the fact that her father would be there, watching her like a bird of prey. Her father, the journalists, the press, her coach, her team-mates...  
She turned away from the mirror, just about recognising the familiar sigh of false contentment that slipped through her.  
It was about being the best. It always was. Nothing more.

* * *

From their changing rooms deep in the glossy black rocks of the Shadow's compound, the home team could hear the crowd- screaming like wild animals for the football gods that they longed to worship.  
Fulmugus and Sinedd hadn't had the time this morning to pull off their usual pranks of intimidation on the visiting team. Like messing with the benches and lockers in their changing rooms and scrawling graffiti on their door.  
"Like we actually need to bother psyching those _losers _out," Sinedd sneered, snapping his shin-guards on. "We're practically guaranteed a win. We're miles better than them...especially with me at the front."  
Ebony rolled her eyes as she stretched, silently hating how his irritating cockiness made her want to giggle like a school-girl and slap him across the face at the same time.  
Like a hunter going back to check the catch in his snare, the dark young man swivelled back around to her flexing form. "Nervous, Ebony?"

"Should I be?" she retaliated carelessly. "I'm ready for this."  
Her curls flicked back over her shoulders as she straightened up; she could feel his gaze on her again. It felt intense...but his tone beneath the chatter of the other players didn't exactly reflect that.

"It's only your third match, newbie!" he teased, sauntering over to her. "There's still plenty of time to screw up."  
He bent over so their faces were level, pretending to warm up too. Then he smirked playfully and tugged on one of her ringlets, snapping it back into her head like a flossy yellow coiled spring.  
Ebony jerked back up and let out a squeal. "Hey! Stop it! Don't touch me!"  
Sinedd laughed. "You're such a little cry baby," he said in a way that was more offhandedly factual than insulting. "But your fake confidence is almost cute. Won't do you any good on the pitch, but it's still cute how you think you're so good..."

Ebony put her hands on her hips and smiled icily before reaching forward, seizing one of Sinedd's gelled spikes and giving it an equally hard pull. "Whatever helps you sleep at night, hot-shot."

The door slid open and Artegor strode in. "Alright, all of you, gather around." The coach spoke through his teeth as always, sharply pronouncing each word with a bullet like edge. "Some of you may not view this as a challenge but this is our opening match and impressions must be made."  
The players flocked around their coach for the usual briefing.

"The Cyclops are by necessity, a joke of a team, but their defensive skills are difficult to compete with..."  
Ebony tried to envision herself on the pitch, charging against them. There would be (presumably) no cheating this time, so the team couldn't rely on that to bail them out if they were failing after half-time, Artegor was pointing out.  
She was trying to pay attention but she could feel Sinedd's body at her back. It was warm and almost "whole-feeling" in comparison to the other, cold, ghastly forms around her. Sinedd hadn't given much reaction to the little rumours that had sprung up about them. When a laughing Fulmugus had showed him the article, his only reaction (she recalled) was a raised eyebrow, miming being sick and muttering: "She wishes."  
Apparently he had dealt with worse.

Her shoulder brushed against his chest every now and then. The first time, he responded with an indignant grunt and a subtle nudge of his collar bone. But every other time, he remained stationary. It felt kind of...comforting to feel that kind of human body-warmth that she hadn't felt in a while. It was also bizarre how he didn't seem to move beneath her.  
That was, until Artegor dismissed them to the loading bay.

Sinedd gave her a sharp pinch in the back of the neck. "Come on, loser. Let's kick it."  
She threw a punch into his arm, which he swiftly dodged with a snigger of: "Save it for the pitch, girlie" in his usual pitchy, sneering tone of voice.  
The players lined up behind white-haired Fulmugus, standing in their usual "V" formation on the platform. The crowd was roaring above their heads, an acute rumbling signifying the arrival of their opponents to the pitch.  
"Here we go," Ebony thought as the hatch opened above them, screams reaching sound-barrier breaking levels as the platform began to rise.  
She adjusted the ear piece beneath her hair, a little deaf to their coach's final words from the booth thanks to the glow of the pitch above them that slowly came into view.

The stands were loaded, packed with a million faceless fans, whose individual shouts had seemed to blend together into one deafening roar. Their rabid voices blared out from the hazy crowds of red, black and green that surrounded the underground pitch. Planet Shadow was ready for one hell of a match.

Callie was already overflowing with her usual commentary, Barry and Nork at her sides to add their own views and opinions.  
**"Just think, in less than three minutes, we will witness the incredible opening of the Blitz tournament, kicked off right here on Planet Shadow by a Shadows versus Cyclops match! I will remind you, football fans, that due to strict policies of the Shadows Stadium Commission, we will be watching the match from up here in the studio...Barry, have you any predictions for the upcoming match?" **

**"Well Callie, the Shadows are clearly a favourite to win however that doesn't mean that the Cyclops won't be a formidable force to deal with."**

**"Look Callie! Here come the Shadows!" **

The platform was raised to full height, its dull clicking sound barely heard over the shrieks of the crowd and the buzz of the scoreboard in the vermillion heavens above.  
Fulmugus gave a nod, signalling the players into their stance.

The little war-dance that they did was never much of a bother to Ebony- she was used to dancing and even more used to following instructions, copying the one before her, so to speak.  
_"Squat...punch left, right, change...tilt head...stand up..." _

The arrogant trollish aliens before them were already goofing around, guffawing stupidly to one and other and mocking the Shadow's dramatic stance, their wide orange eyes rolling around above their stocky green bodies.

_"Cross hands across chest....out to the sides...back across chest....out straight to the sides...smog..." _

A black, toxic cyclone of hazy flux swirled into the air above them- the Shadow's signature finale. One player below could feel the aching pulse in his temples begin, while another could feel the burning cravings in her throat flare up.  
Neither was prepared to let those feelings dampen their urge to win. They were both prepared to use the weapon to its fullest.

"Assume your positions," Artegor commanded and the players dispersed across the field, dotting the red glass with their single phantom-like black figures.  
A sharp contrast to the bulky red and green ones that shuffled around them in bunches.

Ebony raised her eyes to span the crowd. A quiver ran through her when her gaze travelled over the VIP box, where she knew her father would be watching.  
In that brief moment, the Cyclops had never looked so strong and well-built. She wondered what their flux would feel like. Would it hurt to meet the Brainwave? And what about their powerful group tackles that could knock someone off their feet?  
This was her first time playing a home match; she couldn't let her father down.  
Ebony squeezed her eyes shut, stomach hurting, suddenly not wanting to be there...

"Yo Ebony!" Sinedd grabbed her shoulder as he strode confidently forward to take the jump shot. "Matches are normally easier to play with your eyes open..."  
She snorted and tossed her hair back over her shoulder. "Oooh...funny..."  
He shrugged, spreading his hands. "Just trying to help the "inferior" players...don't embarrass yourself."

"Don't worry about me," she sneered back. "I won't."

Her eyes didn't leave the neon green number eleven on the back of Sinedd's jersey as she walked back into place. One of the Cyclops defenders was already eyeing her up and down with his giant googling iris and chuckling away about something to his accomplice.  
She ignored them and crouched into position, but she could still feel her face reddening a little.

The Cyclops attackers had already managed to stack themselves into a wobbly tower, their captain Akamook adorning the top and waving at the crowd like some kind of freaky-looking cheerleader.  
The Shadows striker crouched beneath, clearly unfazed. His thin face was clenched in anticipation yet his eyes were relaxed and confident beneath his soft black fringe. He had done this before. He was a superstar who could beat anyone...or at least that was what his body-language said.

And Ebony envied him for it.

"Come on, Sinedd," she murmured under her breath as silence descended over the crowd.

There was an acute whistling sound and the coveted green orb rocketed out from mid-field, shooting upwards into the air as every player's eyes locked on to it.

The first match of the Blitz Tournament had begun!

* * *

_So yeah, that's one from Ebony's POV. Thanks a million for reading and I hope you liked it! The usual stuff: comment, criticise and suggest ideas if you want to! :D  
Thank you once more for reading! You guys rock! _  
_(Btw- Sorry about the delay and the shortness of the chapter! (^_^') I am seriously busy with school stuff!)_


	12. Burning

_Yep, number 12 is right here. I'd like to apologise for the abruptness of the last chapter and I hope the change of POV didn't put anyone off!  
This chapter is back in Sinedd's POV and as etiquette dictates, I'm going to warn you about a little implied slash that will occur further down in the story. Yeah, so there's slash...that's the warning! ^^  
Thanks again for all the reviews! I'm sorry for the lateness! Reeeally sorry! :-( I've been really busy lately and I promise that will never be this late putting up a chapter again!  
Here we go.... _

_And the theme song for this chapter? "Headstrong" by Trapt. _

* * *

Sinedd was the first to rip the ball away, the smog carrying him higher than the Cyclops clumsy basket toss.  
He had to fight to keep control once he plummeted to the ground, though. Fresh ferocity-laced adrenaline burned in the young player's throat; it was time to give in to his desire to win.

Sinedd's feet met the ground with a wave of blackness rippling out like a dark smoky sea all around him.  
He looked from left to right for an open player, indigo eyes refusing to meet the huge orange orbs that were locked on him on all sides.  
The dark haired striker battled his way out of the group but the Cyclops' players were still doing their best to wall him in- turning the pitch into an inescapable maze of solid red and green.

"Into the air, Sinedd!" Artegor bellowed into the mike. "Either use the smog or get above their heads! They may be strong but they can't attack you in the air!"

"_Right." _  
Sinedd nodded and in the bare blink of an eye, he was gone leaving only a slither of smog behind him. His flux took him upwards and from there he could easily pass to Fulmugus.  
The Shadows' captain took the ball with flourish, cutting through the players around him like a blade.  
However the Cyclops captain was a little quicker on the uptake than her looked and seconds later, Fulmugus and Akamook were caught in a mid-field duel.

Before Sinedd or Nilhis could sprint over to assist, the Cyclops had stolen control of the ball and were ploughing across the field in a bunch and knocking away the Shadows' defence as easily as if they were dead leaves.

In front of the Arcadia Sports cameras, Callie was beside herself with excitement.  
**"The Cyclops are heading down the field, stampeding past the Shadows...lining up for a shot...the play is intense on both sides!" **

The Cyclops spread themselves in a line across the pitch. Their forms were unruly, their legs shuffling and their long arms dangling but their group choreography was exceptional.  
Within seconds, they had dominated the Shadows' half of the pitch and were fast closing in on the goal.

Akamook's leg drew back mid-run and came forward in a kick that sent the ball shooting like a missile, on a clear path to the back of the net...

_Not quite.  
_Kai got their first, catching the spinning ball against his abdomen with a grunt and a flurry of the smog.  
**"And a nice save by Kai of the Shadows!" **

Sinedd let out a strangled sigh of relief, weathering his coach's outcries that reverberated from the ear-piece across his cheek bone.  
"That was a close one!" Artegor shouted. "_Too close!" _  
The man's aggression and desperation flared again as he glared at his players on the coach's monitor. His drive to win was a powerful as his own protégé's .

"Show them what you can really do! Play to win! Come on!" he shouted, slamming his fist down on the dashboard. "Pick up the pace! They're _nothing..._show me that you still deserve this!"

Sinedd narrowed his gaze in his coach's direction. Those words were like poison to him- the most headstrong player on the team. His mentor knew exactly what to say...exactly what would rouse his infamous drive for victory...exactly what would aggravate him like a wild animal...

It was a cruel kindness though. Artegor had learned a long time ago that if making stabs at a player's ego drove him or her to push themselves to play at their best, than it was worth a small sacrifice of dignity.  
A bout of "tough love", to be frank- strictly reserved for the coaches who weren't afraid to allow their players to develop in every way possible.

Sinedd was sprinting up the pitch, feet pounding down on to the red glass and smog streaming out his eyes and mouth like smouldering black silk. The ball was tight in his possession, not budging he tore past the hulking Cyclops players with a kind of aggressive grace that only a pro could perform with.  
He rocketed past two Cyclopian mid-fielders, the goal nearing on the horizon line and the crowd shrieking with excitement.

"**With a simply **_**incredible**_** use of the smog to boost his speed, Sinedd, the Shadows' star striker is tearing up the field! He passes one level of the defence, now two...he's going to shoot!" **

He certainly was.  
Sinedd was at the touch line in seconds, Ebony and Fulmugus in his peripherals- guarding his back as they had planned in training.  
The Shadow's prince's lips curled into a smile; in a single flash of the smog, he was shooting towards the roof of the stadium, breasting the hot air that clung to his body.

His mouth opened in a silent scream of adrenaline and the line of his kick was firmly targeted upon the white glint of the goal-posts and white mesh below.  
Then, in a single ferocious swing of Sinedd's leg sent the ball pounding into the back of the net.

"**Goal Shadows!" **

Sinedd raised a triumphant fist above his head. "Yeah!"  
The Cyclops' goal-keeper stumbled looked over his own shoulder, slack-jawed and bug-eyed- in total disbelief of the sheer skill he had just witnessed.

The striker, whose name the crowd was chanting, smirked at his expression. Oh, he would believe in his skill _very _soon.

* * *

_In the VIP booth, the esteemed Shadow's diplomat gazed down at the pitch, following the players beneath.  
He didn't have much of an interest in football but one of the players down there, viciously locked in a midfield battle for the ball, happened to be his daughter.  
"Look Papa! Look, Ebony has the ball!"  
"Viola, sit down and stop making a show of yourself! I see her!" _

_The Shadows diplomat, Mr Appex, peered down at the blonde haired girl with a glaciated stare. The ball was zig-zagging between the players, fluxes exploding in waves around them. The pitch had become a battle-field and the players were the warriors, the promise of a victory being the ultimate prize that they fought for.  
True, the watchers in the VIP box and stands could only guess at the feelings of the players beneath them. Just watching, they could barely comprehend the pressure and ferocity that the footballers experienced every day...as spectators, they just relied on their carefully mastered performances for recreation.  
For the fans, it was entertainment.  
For the players, it was life. _

_Violet sat beside her father, sitting down slowly, red-faced from his glares and the excitement of watching her sister play a real-life tournament match. The diplomat rolled his red eyes and stared back at the game, shooting a few lazily placed comments over his shoulder at the man sitting there.  
"Enjoying the match, Harris?"  
"Yes, greatly, sir," smirked the Technoid representative, squaring his shoulders beneath his purple suit. "It's getting exciting, wouldn't you say?"_

_Fulmugus slipped from the group, juggling the ball away from two stumbling attackers and sent a skilful pass straight to Sinedd.  
The eleventh player on the Shadows' team wove between his opponents with a dark grace, his impeccable yet aggressive skill easily brushing off any attacker who challenged him.  
The diplomat's eyes followed his daughter as she shakily accepted a pass from Sinedd.  
_

_His brow creased as the players wove between each other once more, disappearing and reappearing in a hissing gauze of black and monotonous waves of neon orange.  
_

"_This game confuses me," he muttered, leaning back. "But if the public are willing to keep paying to watch, I fully endorse it..."  
Appex smirked, eyeing the rabid fans in the stadium.  
Ebony sent the ball back to Sinedd, the Shadow's star striker effortlessly flying above the bumbling Cyclops defence beneath and seconds later the crowd was going wild with the celebration of the Shadow's second goal.  
_

"_Your daughter is doing quite well, sir."  
"Mhmm...finally doing something worthwhile I suppose..." _

_The players fanned out again, Fulmugus nodding them into their next positions. Artegor had always taught them to be independent. He wanted a team of strong players, not mere puppets waiting to be told what to do.  
Harris crossed his legs, leaning forward as they lined up for the next throw-out.  
_

"_Has your daughter always been athletic? "_

_The ball shot back into the crowd, the Cyclops gaining immediate control and pelting up the pitch.  
__**"The Cyclops are back in possession and fast closing in on the goal, how will the Shadow's defence cope with this sudden pressure?" **_

_Appex leaned back, taking another sip from his glass of champagne.  
"She used to play when she was younger...my ex-wife taught her quite a bit...and she danced for a while. Funny little thing isn't she? Doesn't resemble Viola and I in the slightest..."_

"_A very healthy child," Harris murmured under his breath, his flashing eyes not falling upon Ebony but upon the player wrestling for the ball ahead of her. "A very healthy, very skilled, very beautiful child..." _

_His eyes traced Sinedd's rugged form, remembering the first time he had met the little ruffian in Genesis upon Bleylock's orders.  
His vanity, his abrasive attitude, his sharp tongue...so lost, so alone, pretending to be tough- like he had it all figured out- but so vulnerable.  
He and the boy had so much in common in his mind.  
Harris watched, guiltily enticed as the striker battled between two Cyclops players, his violet eyes gleaming with ferocity, a soft gleam of sweat on his shining pale skin and his smooth hair, a blackened veil upon his brow. _

"_Oh yes, Sinedd my old friend...we will be together soon..."_

_Appex looked up. "Did you say something, Harris?"  
"No sir, nothing..."_

_A cry from the crowd.  
__**"Goal Cyclops! And that concludes our exciting first half!"**_

_**

* * *

**_

Half-time seemed to roll on forever for the fans in the stadium; the Shadows were leading 2-1 and the crowd were on the edges of their seats, thirsty for more of the breath-taking action.  
However for the exhausted players, it was never long enough.  
Sinedd grimaced. The Cyclops were a joke of a team, he shouldn't have been feeling so tired. Then again, he was thankful that the smog hadn't been at him that much during the first half. He slung a towel around his shoulders, swiping a bottle of water from his locker and gulping it down with a relish for the cool liquid.  
He was half-tempted to empty the whole thing over his head to quell the burning heat beneath his skin but he resisted the urge, not particularly wanting to soil his beloved jersey.

Fulmugus was rattling on with a speech fuelled by Artegor's presence behind him; Sinedd was in no mood to pay attention to the usual banter however. He sank down to the bench next to an edgy looking Ebony, her eyes unfocused and darting and the hair that wasn't slicked to her sweaty face hanging limply back over her shoulders.

"Nervous because daddy's out there?"

Ebony looked at Sinedd coldly, rolling her eyes at his remark and winding the silver chain of her necklace around her finger.  
"No," she murmured. "Why should I care? I'm too good a player to need to be self-conscious..."

She gave a vain, confident performance but her panicked eyes instantly betrayed her, refusing to meet his own properly.

"Yeah, uh-huh. You just keep telling yourself that," Sinedd teased mockingly, giving her a hard nudge in the side and smirking. Ebony glared at him out of the corner of her eyes, lips firm and frowning at him icily.  
He rolled his eyes and gave her a poke. "Don't scrunch your face up like that, it makes you look uglier than usual...we don't want to break the cameras on the pitch now." He wagged his finger at her, impersonating Artegor's sharp tongued voice and glare. "Do we, Ebony?"

Her frosty glare seemed to melt, giving way to a lightened smirk. "No...so you'd best not look at them then..."  
Sinedd chuckled sardonically pinching her in the side. "Think you're smart, do you?"  
Ebony couldn't help but let a squeal escape her lips as she swatted him away.

Nilhis tugged the towel from Ebony's shoulders, pulling them back to reality. "Come on, second-half..."

Sinedd took a breath, rolling his neck as he stood and psyching himself out to solidify their next victory.  
"I expect you to give 100% Sinedd," Artegor told him sharply as he passed. "It would be dreadfully embarrassing to lose our first match on home ground."

"I _always_ give it my all," Sinedd snapped gruffly back as he passed. "And we won't..."

* * *

"**There are only a few minutes of play left, football fans, and both teams are rearing to emerge the victor!" **

Callie's commentary pressed on, documenting every detail but still barely touching on the kind of adrenaline and excitement that set the stadium on fire.  
Fulmugus tore the ball away from a pair of Cyclops mid-fielders and shot up the pitch in a silken flash of the smog.  
"Take it in, Sinedd!" he growled, passing it with a single, powerful kick.

Sinedd took it with a flourish, spotting Ebony sprinting up at his side and open to receive a pass from him. He allowed her to follow him, her presence somehow fuelling him to run but he was feeling a little too selfish at that moment to cough up the ball.

"**Sinedd is fast moving up the field but here come the indestructible Cyclops defence!" **

The eleventh player on the Shadows gave Ebony a nod and the two of them ran in tandem up the pitch.  
"Sinedd! Ebony!" came Artegor's commands. "Don't let up and don't dare try and turn back. We need to score...just keep up the pace...and for god's sake don't look into their eyes!"

Sinedd managed to breeze past the defence in a wave of smog, taking out half the line by sending them all into fits of coughing as the toxic flux took its effect.  
Ebony, however managed to run straight into a huddle of Cyclops players, their headache inducing flux- the brainwave- immediately taking its toll on her.

Her team-mate looked back when he lost sight of her, just in time to watch her sink to her knees, clutching her curly head in her hands in a wave of orange light.  
Ebony gritted her teeth; the image of those squiggly black irises and goggling orange eyes felt permanently burned into her mind and her temples were throbbing painfully. Her pride was damaged the most though- trust her to make the stupid mistake of walking straight into another team's flux at the match her father had decided to come and see.

But the headache suddenly seemed to dissolve, giving way to surprise when she suddenly felt someone grab her by the jersey and tug her to her feet. Their movements were rough but reassuring.  
"Come on, blondie...don't make stupid moves like that. You almost cost us a goal."  
She looked up to see violet eyes, still burning with aggression and bearing into her gaze from the pale young man's face.

_Sinedd? _

He pinched her arm quickly, clapping a hand to her shoulders and saying in a low voice. "Just shake it off and fucking come on..."  
For some reason, seeing her in pain infuriated him.  
Perhaps because he wasn't the one causing it...  
Maybe because he felt that she was holding the team back...

The weird part was that he felt angry at _himself_ when he saw her recoiling in pain, a strange aching in his chest and a shortness of breath.  
Why though?

The headstrong player had no time to reflect, allowing the ball to ricochet between him and the other Shadows on the pitch, closing in fast on the Cyclops goal.  
Only seconds left now...

Nilhis passed to Ebony who disappeared in a single breath of smog and took to the air opposite the goal. The hot air rushing into her face and the sudden defiance of gravity was enough to snap her head clear and rid her of the previous nausea. Her shot was firm and sent the ball rocketing forward...headed straight over the cross-bar.

"**Oh no...it looks like it's all over for the Shadows....or is it?" **

"No it's not!"  
Sinedd appeared in the air above the goal, his heart racing ferociously and his body on fire. His skin felt as if it were ablaze with the blackened flames of his flux, numb to the rushing air and roaring crowd and only feeling the soft round underside of the ball as it bounced off his foot.  
The ball plummeted off its course and back to earth, Ebony running forward immediately, ducking between to Cyclops defenders and stealing it into her possession.  
All it took was a light kick exactly three seconds before the final buzzer went to secure a Shadow's victory.

"Yes! Teamwork! That's it!" shouted Artegor at his players who were already punching the air and mocking the shamed Cyclops players with a merciless zeal.  
The Shadows were never ones to get affectionate on the pitch but Sinedd gratefully accepted the punches and play-tackles of his taller, alien team-mates.

They were in now. They had won their first match of the Blitz.  
"The first of _many_," Sinedd told himself, ego already swelling at the promise of his victories to come. He would lead the team to the finals of this tournament. "After all," he concluded. "I basically am the reason why we won this match..."

Even if he hadn't exactly scored the final goal.

Fulmugus gave Sinedd another high five, the players crowding around him and shouting to rouse their fans in the stands.  
A familiar voice in his ear sounded very, very happy with her final goal. "We won! We won! Ha-ha!"  
"I know! Yeah! We wo-"

She had run straight into his chest, her arms shooting around his neck in a kind of drunken excitement and in that same drunken excitement, his arms had found their way around her waist.  
Nilhis bit back a giggle.  
Sinedd and Ebony had just hugged.

Sinedd coughed, suddenly feeling his face heat up as he stepped back, pushing her away. "Yeah, uh...don't make mistakes like that again...and watch your aim..."  
Ebony folded her arms, face going a little pink as she recoiled. "Y-yeah...I...send me more passes like that in the future and...I will..."

Later, Sinedd found himself standing in the dressing-rooms next to Ebony.  
Blue eyes met violet for a brief second, the two trying to stare the other down in a silent stand-off.  
Despite the commotion all around them, all the two could hear was the other's heavy breathing.

Then Ebony spoke, her voice a little less acidic than usual and her hands fidgeting beneath the cloth of her jersey, trying to find her necklace to pull at.  
"Yeah...so...we won. You and I should go celebrate...like into the city..."  
"You and I? Like you and me?"  
"No , like you and Brim Simbra," she sneered. "Yes, I mean you and I as in the two of us." She paused, swallowing and seeming a little edgy for once. "Could be fun..."  
Sinedd shrugged. "Well I have nothing better to do, I guess...no windows to break either," he added with a smirk.


	13. Bitten

_ Fic resurrection!  
I am aware that it has been almost two years since I last updated this fic! I mainly took the time off because I was starting up in University and I wanted to find my feet. I was also concentrating on my own novel- which is set to be published this July!  
Anyway! I really am sorry for the huge delay and I __**will **__be flooring this one until I'm finished so there'll be no big long wait again!  
Also thanks so much to all those who have favourited, reviewed and followed during my hiatus! I'll understand if you guys have abandoned this but I'm really hoping that you guys'll read on. _

_Once again,  
hoping to avoid Ebony becoming a Mary-Sue so let me know if you're starting to get any Mary-Sue vibes from her and if you guys have any requests or ideas for future chapters, let me know!  
Furthermore, if you'd like to use or name-drop Ebony in a fanfic or to use her in fanart- you are welcome to do that, but please let me know first._

_Now, onward with the fic! In my time-honoured tradition, the song for this chapter is __**"I Think We're Alone Now" by Tiffany**__ (The Birthday Massacre's cover is actually pretty good too!). _

* * *

Sinedd wasn't a huge fan of the central city of planet Shadow.  
It wasn't because he didn't enjoy urban life in general.

Hell, after growing up in foster home after foster home in the snowy back- ass of nowhere, (also known as planet Akillian), he had developed quite a taste for the flurry of city-life and the electric buzz of the town  
When on Genesis, his favourite hangout was the café just across from the big screens. There was no better place to enjoy a coffee and to watch his latest replays on Arcadia Sports.  
When he wasn't escaping an extra training session or waiting for word on the next Netherball match, he liked the hustle and bustle of the crowd around him.  
The subtle roar of the crowd that passed him- the cacophony of chatter, shouts and intermingling murmurs- was almost soothing. It reminded him of the way the crowd in Genesis would erupt when he scored a goal, thus filling him with some kind of ecstasy.  
Of comfort.

Also, lots of noise meant lots of distractions, which meant no time to be left alone with his own thoughts. As much as the Shadows' dark star hated to admit it- his own mind was a place that he often hated to retreat into.

However, "distraction" was one thing and "bombardment" was quite another.  
Not only was the main city of planet Shadow both underground and thus, dark both day and night as well as cold, but it was also crawling with a million crazed fans and photographers who would gladly rip him to shreds like a pack of rabid Wambeezan tree-hyenas.  
It wasn't that Sinedd didn't mind feeding his ego with one or two photographs or a couple of autographs, it was just that he didn't quite fancy having his clothes torn from his body or several layers of his skin to end up under the fingernails of several screaming fangirls.

Also, the fact that the match had only ended about two hours ago, meant that the streets would be swarming with three particularly dangerous predators: rabid Shadows fans, vengeful Cyclops fans and journalists, ravenous for a good story.  
In fact, Sinedd would normally not have even _entertained_ the idea of going into the city so early after a match.

He narrowed his violet eyes, stealing a glance at the bobbing blonde head beside him, her high-heels clicking on the stainless steel foot-path with every step.  
Why the hell had he agreed to this again?

"So where are we headed then?" he asked Ebony in a lazy drawl.  
She sighed, rolling her eyes beneath her mirror sunglasses. "You'll see." She cocked an eyebrow, smirking and adding in a patronising tone. "You don't get out in this city much. Do you, Sinedd?"

He stuck his tongue out at her, grunting. "I don't get out much here, _by choice_. Sorry, princess, but I'm not partial to wandering around underground streets in the dark with potential paparazzi lurking around every corner." Sinedd grimaced as he looked around at the buildings that surrounded them, shoving his hands into his pockets. "And it's a small wonder that we're not lost already. These streets are like part of a fucking labyrinth! They all look the same. You know, there's a reason why the Genesis Stadium theme park has an attraction called "The Shadow Maze?"

Ebony gave a snort of laughter. "Lest you forget, hot-shot, I've lived here for most of my life. I know this whole city like the back of my hand."  
Sinedd groaned, giving her a shove and chuckling at her stumbling in her high-heels. "Ugh, don't give me another sob-story about your childhood to meditate on. _Please."_

"Watch it!" she squeaked swatting at him. Regaining her composure, Ebony shrugged, her tone softening a little as she spoke. "I didn't really start going out here, in the city, until I was well into my teens. Dad kind of…" The second striker's face creased a little. "My father didn't really want me going out into the city."  
Ebony wandered over to a nearby fountain, sitting on the polished glass ledge, looking down into the glowing yellow liquid that poured into its main bowl as she mumbled something about wanting to take a break because her feet hurt.

_ "Your own fault for wearing those stilts you call high-heels. I warned you not to wear them,"_Sinedd thought with thin-lipped cynicism, but he bit his tongue and moved to sit beside her._  
_"Your dear Papa was the protective sort?" he questioned, sitting back and following her gaze into the fountain's contents.  
Ebony gave a dry, sardonic bark of laughter and shook her head, pulling a cigarette from her black leather handbag and fumbling for her lighter. "Protective? Of my younger sister, anyway. No…towards me, my father wasn't really the protective sort. He was more the _controlling_ sort. The _neurotic_ sort. The ashamed-of-having-a-human-looking-daughter sort…"

Sinedd raised a slow eyebrow, watching as she crossed her legs and took a drag, thick sooty smoke spilling from her glossy lips. The unfamiliar bitterness in her voice was piercing.  
"Your dad," he said slowly in response, trying to take in what she had just said. "Your dad was actually _ashamed_ of you? Get the fuck out…that kind of dad doesn't pay a grand to get his daughter on a football team."  
Ebony glowered at him for a moment but then shook her head again, leaning forward on to her knee as she took another deep inhale of her cigarette. "No. He was definitely ashamed of me. Father went to great lengths to make sure that I had a tutor instead of sending me to school with other children. He also went to great lengths to ensure that his business partners never met me. He didn't believe I was his own daughter until after five paternity tests. I looked so unlike him, he was convinced my darling mother had an affair with an Akillian born man though."

She rolled her eyes. "No such fucking luck for him though. According to five DNA tests, I am definitely his daughter and definitely a Shadow/Akillian hybrid. Then to complicate everything further, the drama with my lungs cropped up. So to make up for the first five years of my life- of hating me- he bought me anything I wanted, gave me everything I needed…all I had to do was ask." Ebony coughed and straightened up her back, taking another aggressive drag on the cigarette cradled between her fingers, as if she expected whatever toxin that was in the smoke to calm her down. "All I _still_ have to do is ask." Her eyes slid sideways. "And he's still ashamed…" She started coughing again, puffing hard on the cigarette in response, allowing a smile to spread out across her face- though the smile didn't quite reach her eyes. "That's why I have to prove myself to him. Show him that he was wrong to ever be ashamed of me. To think of me as a burden. Make him notice me."

For a moment, all Sinedd could do was watch her, his brow furrowing.  
Then suddenly and automatically, his mouth started moving. "I can relate to that, I guess," he sighed, looking up and staring straight ahead. "My first foster parents used to pretend I didn't exist sometimes." He shrugged. "They took me in for the welfare cheques, I guess…"  
Ebony slowly looked to Sinedd, her own brow furrowing. "What?"  
Her fellow striker groaned. "If you're going to talk to me, don't do it with a cigarette in your mouth and don't you dare blow smoke in my direction"  
The young woman rolled her eyes, but obviously desiring to know more, she crushed the smoking stick of paper into the side of the fountain. "Fine. There. Good enough for you?"

Satisfied with her obedience, Sinedd took a deep breath and went on.  
"Yeah, so my first my foster parents were quick to snap me up, alright," he recalled, looking up at the dark, rocky obsidian ceiling above them. "But when I was actually under their roof, they treated me as if I didn't exist. They even used to make me hide if they had guests over because they didn't want their friends knowing that they had a kid in the house." Sinedd ran his fingers back through his hair, feeling Ebony's eyes on him. For a brief moment, he considered asking himself why in all of the Zaelion Galaxy was he talking about this- with _Blondie_ of all people- but it was as if his mouth had taken on a mind of its own and the words were spilling from his lips without his control. Just as the smoke had poured from Ebony's. "And trust me. This couple were not the most savoury of people."

He wrinkled his nose. "Most of the time, I didn't _want_ to know what foster-mommy, foster-daddy and all of their friends were doing down in the living room while I was locked away upstairs." He let out a long exhale. "I did feel fucking invisible sometimes. So I broke out of my room. Went magna-boarding. Went to Planet Akillian and hung around with the gangs there. Got snacks and drink and football cards…didn't have any credits to spend but I got good at shop-lifting…" Sinedd laughed a little. "This was also back when I didn't really believe my parents were dead. I told myself that they were everything from secret agents to super soldiers and that as soon as the war was over properly, they'd come looking for me. Though, the only ones who ever came searching for me were the Akillian police force."

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Ebony's eyes locked on his face. Sinedd couldn't see if her expression was one of mirth or sympathy and truthfully, he didn't want to turn his head away from his view of the empty street in front of him to see.  
The knowledge that a rich bitch like Ebony had a far-from-perfect childhood was somewhat sadistically satisfying and yet somewhat of a shock to him. Perhaps it was because he found her easier to dislike when she was playing the role of the annoying, spoiled brat than the role of a girl with a past as warped as his own.

He could see Ebony opening her mouth, about to say something.  
But he didn't want to hear her saying something pitying or mocking, this time.  
His pride caused his mouth to start moving again and something unknown to him, chose what he had to say.  
"And look, Ebony. Remember what I told you back on Akillian about hardening up? Before we played against the Snow-Losers? Well, part of that is playing for _yourself_. Not for anyone else. You'll never get any better if you keep playing and trying to improve only for your precious daddy. You need to train only to advance yourself and play as if no one else in the galaxy matters." He finally dared himself to look at her and placed a hand on her shoulder, gripping slightly to emphasise his point. "And with the amount of improvement that you need, Blondie…" Sinedd cracked a smile. "You'd better turn into a hermit pretty soon."

He started to stand up, his hand dropping to his side but he blinked in surprise, feeling Ebony's fingers suddenly reach out and wrap around his own. Sinedd swallowed, keeping his cool exterior but inside, desperately trying to cull the feelings that rose inside him.  
The feelings that had first reared their ugly heads after he and Ebony's one on one match, when he had been so close that he could feel her breath on his lips.

He thought about snatching his fingers away but didn't, looking at her accusingly all the same.  
"What?"  
"Thanks…Sinedd," she murmured, slowly returning her hand to her side. "When you're not being a jerk, you can be almost…kind…" She stood up, a slow smile growing across her face.

"Hey," he said quickly. "I'm just telling you this to stop you moping around. For the team's sake. You're not the only one who's had it hard." Sinedd sighed, his voice softening. "Though, it's nice to know that _I'm_ not the only one who's had it hard too."  
Ebony nodded, her pink, gloss-smeared lips stretching as she looked up at him from under her eyelashes. "Your first foster parents were wrong, Sinedd…and I bet they're gagging seeing you now. Rich. Famous. You're not invisible anymore…the whole galaxy sees you…" She laughed a little, giving him a not-as-rough-as-usual punch in the bicep. "Makes me a little jealous sometimes, I'll admit."

For a split second, Sinedd had felt the warmth in her words penetrate him- seeping into his skin and making him writhe internally with disgust.  
_"Stop it! Stop it for fuck sake! Stop making it hard for me to hate you!" _

However, the prompt confession of Ebony's envy was enough to dissolve that warmth and merit a squawk of laughter from her violet-eyed companion. "I KNEW IT! I knew that you were jealous of me! Me and my skills! You've been jealous all along, haven't you?!"

Ebony pouted, her cheeks turning red as her soft tone morphed back into a condescending one. "Fuck you, Sinedd, sweetie. I said I was a _little_ jealous. _Sometimes_. Get your facts right!" She smirked, putting her hands on her hips. "Plus, I won't have to be jealous of you after the end of the Blitz tournament! Then the whole galaxy will get to see how superior I am to you and it will be YOU who is envious of ME."

"Oh really?"

Sinedd cocked an eyebrow, grinning darkly and poking her in the stomach, delighting at her startled response.  
"Hey, don't do that!"  
"Why? Ticklish?"  
Another poke.  
"Y-_no_…it just feels weird…stop, you idiot!"  
Another poke.  
"Come on now, Ebony. Ask nicely. What's are the magic words?"  
Yet another poke.  
"Stop fucking poking me or I'll tear you to shreds!"  
Laughter and another poke.  
"I'd like to see you try, Blondie. I could bench-press you if I wanted to, you scrawny little twerp."  
"Hah! Now that I'd like to see _you_ try…"

Without needing much more of an invitation, Sinedd lunged forward and grabbed Ebony, wrapping his arms tightly around her and swinging her up off the ground.  
His fellow striker squealed and squirmed like a piglet, trying to worm her way out of his grasp.

"PUT ME DOWN!"  
"Make me," he taunted, sticking his tongue out at her and laughing.  
"S-Sinedd! You are so immature!" she attempted to rebuke, only barely preventing herself from laughing too and failing miserably in her attempt to banish the grin from her face.

_"I'm_ immature?" he teased. "Look who's screaming because she's a few feet off the ground! If anyone's immature here, its y-…_oh shit…"_  
Sinedd's eyes widened and he abruptly dropped Ebony back to her feet, the bottom just about having fallen out of his stomach.

"Don't just drop me like that," the disgruntled blonde scolded, smoothing her skirt down. "Now what the hell's the matter with y-?" Ebony's voice immediately left her when she followed Sinedd's gaze and saw why exactly he was suddenly petrified.

"IS THAT SINEDD…AND EBONY?!"

They were no longer alone in the street.

In fact, during their jostling, they had attracted the attention of a large crowd of people, leaving a nearby pub.  
To make matters worse, during their playful tryst, both Sinedd's cap and Ebony's sunglasses had disjointed, leaving their identities very much exposed.  
To make matters even worse than that, everyone in the crowd that was now staring at them was wearing a Shadows jersey.

Ebony froze up as badly as Sinedd and through gritted teeth, managed to choke out. "Sh-Should we just walk away?"  
A tense silence hung in the air as the rabid fans stared at the two footballers like Xenonian bat-wolves ogling their latest prey.  
"Don't make any sudden movements," Sinedd hissed out of the corner of his mouth. "It excites them."

Another few seconds of silence passed before…

"OH MY GOD! IT'S EBONY AND SINEDD!"  
"I LOVE YOU!"  
"HERE! SIGN MY FOREHEAD!"  
"SIGN ME ANYWHERE!"  
"CAN I HAVE A LOCK OF YOUR HAIR?"  
"CAN I HAVE YOUR BABIES?"

Sinedd looked down at Ebony, eyes wide and pupils dilated with the kind of fear one only witnesses from those who have slept in and missed the first ten minutes of one of Artegor's early morning training sessions.

"And now, we run."

* * *

A now extremely unkempt Ebony dragged an equally dishevelled Sinedd through the glossy revolving doors of a large apartment complex at the south end of the city.  
The two immediately stumbled inside, hiding behind the nearest wall and breathing heavily, (much to the apparent mirth of the two security robots).

"D-do you think we lost them?"  
"I…I think so…"  
"Thank the stars. Thank the fucking s-stars…"

It had taken quite a few misadventures and acts of espionage to try to dupe the fans into losing their trail. Sinedd laughed in spite of his lack of breath, shaking his head.  
"My fan-girls never cease to fucking amaze me in the lengths they'll go to, to get near me."

Ebony frowned, folding her arms and sneering. "Well it wasn't just you, they were chasing. Remember that."  
Sinedd waved a hand dismissively. "Whatever, princess. You've played three matches. I've played over fifty-three. Remember _that."_  
He looked around at his rather grand surroundings. The lobby was decorated in drapes and velvet carpets of a deep burgundy. These served to cloak the glowing onyx walls and floor and matched the erratics of dark purple stone that flanked the tinted glass doors as well as the wine-coloured flowers that were perched upon the fine mahogany check-in desk.  
The centre-piece of the foyer, however, was most definitely the colossal, black crystal chandelier that floated above their heads, casting sparkling red lights all around.

Sinedd let out a low whistle; this was the kind of elegance that rivalled that of Genesis stadium.  
"Remind me why we're here again?"

Ebony rolled her eyes. "I _live_ here, dummy." She grinned. "I thought you might fancy a free dinner."  
"Restaurant? You're paying?"  
"Nope, up in the penthouse."  
"You're _cooking_?"  
"No, there's a cook. I'll have dinner ordered up to us…"

Sinedd snorted. "Typical. You just love having the chance to flaunt your riches, don't ya, princess?"  
"Bite me," Ebony returned. "If you don't want a five-star meal, you don't have to accept my generous offer."  
"Oi!" the dark prince of the pitch smirked, nudging her. "I may appear superhuman but I _am_ a man. I don't turn down free food. From a prissy rich-girl or not."

Ebony laughed, linking his arm and tugging him through one of the polished doors to their left, leading into a nicely furnished, (and thankfully empty), lounge and bar.  
"It's a bit early for dinner yet and this place tends to be fairly deserted during the day. It's not normally until the evening time that things start to get busy."  
Sinedd nodded, only-half listening to her as he hopped up onto a bar stool.

The bar-tender turned around to them, his long brown hair pulled back into a neat ponytail and his black and white suit mirroring the black and white markings on his face.  
"Two scotch and colas on the rocks," Ebony commanded, taking the bar stool next to her companion.  
"Make mine a double," Sinedd added, wrinkling his nose at the sight of Ebony pulling another cigarette from her purse. "Do you _have_ to light up again? Indoors?"  
"It's a smoking lounge," she replied sharply, scrabbling for her lighter. "It's not illegal."

"Geez, Ebony," he groaned. "You really are stuck on those things, aren't you? Bet you couldn't quit them even if you wanted to."

Ebony grimaced but purely to spite Sinedd, shoved the cigarette and lighter back into her purse. "I can give up smoking whenever I want. I choose to smoke because it helps me to relax. I'm not addicted or anything like that. Contrary to what you may think."

"Whatever," Sinedd murmured, shamelessly peering into her open purse. "So what is in those things anyway? I've tried normal cigarettes before. I know what they smell like and whatever's in the ones that you're puffing on is definitely not nicotine…"  
"You smoked?" she questioned curiously, completely ignoring his initial question. "I'm guessing that you quit early."  
Sinedd nodded, looking faintly repulsed. "I never liked the taste. Never really got into them. Plus, the fact that those things rot your lungs from the inside out isn't exactly going to help a career in Galactik football."

Ebony murmured something vague and unclear under her breath, pulling out a pocket mirror and checking her make-up.  
"Do you always have to keep layering that make-up on?"  
"Gonna criticise something else about me? You're starting to sound more like a mini-Artegor than usual."  
"Hey, I'm just saying that you don't need to wear that much make-up."  
"You never know when a photographer might be lurking around the next corner."  
"Yeah but there are no photographers in sight and you're still painting it on, Blondie!" He pinched her arm. "You're not even doing it right either. I mean it's not having much of an effect…"  
"You're a jerk. You lack so much in terms of class, Sinedd, I almost pity you," she taunted, tossing her curls back over her shoulders. "You couldn't charm a girl if your career depended on it."  
"So you just hang around with me for my looks then?" he teased back. "Because I'm just _that_ irresistibly hot?"

Ebony leaned up close to Sinedd's face, their noses almost touching.  
"You wish, hot-shot."  
Sinedd dropped his voice to a bare whisper. "I don't have to wish, Ebony."

Before Ebony, (suddenly very pink-faced), could respond, the bar tender placed two glasses on the counter before them.  
"Sir. Madam. Your drinks."  
The blonde coughed, opening her purse to retrieve her credits key-card. "Uh…yes, thank you."

The bar tender smiled, raising a hand. "No need, madam. These are on the house. Those were some great goals that you both scored earlier today."  
Sinedd grinned widely, taking a hearty gulp from his glass. "Thanks."  
The bar tender bowed his head, his cordial smile becoming a bit of a smirk as he placed two extra shots of gin on the table. "You two make a lovely couple too. You remind me of my wife and I when we were younger. Already at it like a married couple."

Ebony opened her mouth. "We-…"  
Sinedd quickly raised a finger to her lips as the bar tender turned around again. "Say nothing," he hissed, greed suddenly taking over. "We're getting free drinks, idiot!"  
She raised her eyebrows but then shrugged, smirking and leaning into Sinedd's side, her head resting on his shoulder.

His eyes widened as the sudden bodily contact turned him into a short-term amnesiac . "Woah, what are you playing at?"  
"I'm _playing along_, stupid," she simpered, winking up at him and taking up her glass. "If we keep this cutesy-couple act up, we might just get more free drinks."  
Sinedd narrowed his eyes, about to shove her off of her bar-stool but then after considering it for a moment, shrugged and lifted his arm, putting it around her shoulders.  
Her body seemed to fit perfectly against his

After a few more free shots and some playful banter with the bar tender, (following some skilful feigned flirtation on their part), Ebony dropped a tip on the table and the two of them headed off to the elevator in the lobby- the desk attendant only slightly raising his eyebrows at the quiver in both of their gait.  
"Congratulations," Ebony crooned, pressing the button and leaning back against the railing at Sinedd's side. "That was a stellar performance, my _darling_! Five stars!"  
She was more than tipsy, her face aflush . Sinedd in turn, was not much better.

"Yes!" he toasted them with an invisible champagne glass. "That, my _sweetheart_, was a scene worthy of an intergalactik dramatic cinema award! My acting in particular was out of this world…" Sinedd laughed, giving her side a poke. "I would give up football in order to pursue a career as an actor but my poor fans would all probably die of heartbreak. Plus, let's face it, left with you as a striker without me to clean up your messes, the team would be screwed…"

"Hey!" Ebony squealed, slapping his arm. "You'd only win best supporting actor as the role of my boyfriend next to my stunning portrayal of the impossible to play character of your girlfriend!"  
He scowled as she flicked her blonde ringlets into his, twirling around and falling back against his side once more.  
Yet again that evening, Sinedd contemplated shoving Ebony away from him. Though once again, he _did no such thing. Even beneath the faint, hazy gauze of several layers of alcohol, his own actions,_ (or lack of actions), surprised him.

Keep your friends close but keep your enemies closer.  
The words of the old saying vaguely sprang to mind.

Sinedd wrinkled his nose, thinking about the implications of that phrase. _ "There's no way I'd ever let D'Jok near me like this."_

Then again, he didn't really consider Ebony an "enemy" anymore, did he?  
At least, not in the traditional sense.  
Still, he didn't know if he could quite put the label of "friend" on what the two of them had between them either.

All he knew at that very moment was that the feeling of a warm, human, female body against his own- particularly one that wasn't clawing at him for an autograph- was greatly appreciated.  
Ebony seemed to fit perfectly under his arm, her hips gently pressing against his side and her fluffy head finding purchase in the smooth alcove of his shoulder blade, toned beneath his jersey.

"Have you had a lot of girlfriends, Sinedd?" Ebony asked suddenly, pulling him out of his torpor.  
He blinked, slightly taken aback by the question but the alcohol had loosened his tongue enough to make for an answer.

He grinned down at her. "I wouldn't call them "girlfriends" as such. I've been with plenty of girls but I don't like to get tied-down."  
Ebony laughed under her breath before sticking out her tongue at him. "Scared to get stuck to one person?"  
Sinedd shook his head. "I just hate the idea of depending on people…of having someone constantly depending on you…" He smirked. "Plus, when you're an all-star player, you may as well play the whole field…if you catch my drift…"  
Ebony rolled her eyes. "Slut."

"Look who's talking!" Sinedd returned, lifting his other to flick her nose. "With the way you flirt with everything that moves, you must have had your fair share of "boyfriends"…"

A soft, resounding bell announced that they had reached their destination and the elevator doors opened.  
Ebony returned Sinedd's smirk and wagged a finger. "Not as many as you'd think. Maybe I like the idea of keeping my freedom too."  
And with that, she unlatched herself from her team mate's side and beckoned for him to follow her out of the elevator. "This is the penthouse floor."

Sinedd raised an eyebrow, noticing with interest that the elevator doors didn't seem open out into a hall but rather into the penthouse itself.  
However when Ebony activated the lights, illuminating the sumptuously furnished living room- the centre-point being the huge windows with the stunning view of Shadow City's sky-line- Sinedd had to bite the insides of his mouth to prevent his jaw from going slack.

"Like it?" Ebony asked over her shoulder, obviously only too happy to flaunt her high-class habitat in Sinedd's face.  
He shrugged, putting on a nonchalant act that he knew would drive her insane. "It's alright."  
Sure enough, Ebony glowered at him and muttered something about him having "absolutely no sense of taste, whatsoever."

"Papa?!" she called out aloud, frowning when she got no reply and leaving the room for a moment. "Vi?! Huh, my dad and sister must be still out with that Technoid representative."  
Sinedd flopped down on to one of the sofas, throwing his feet up on to the coffee table but pulled a face, noticing that his feet had hit something other than the smooth surface of a table. "What the-?"  
He peered at the sealed blue box, tilting his head when he noticed the label, emblazoned with a "T" flanked by two orbs: Technoid's logo.

"Hey, Ebony! Blondie! I think your dad's Technoid rep got a package!"  
He gestured to it upon her return and she wrinkled her nose, examining it. "Why the Hell did he have it ordered to here?" She rolled her eyes, waving a hand. "Ugh, I hate it when my father's business partners get too familiar…" The golden haired striker poked her raven haired counter-part in the back of the neck. "I'm going to go check with the cook that the dinner is ready. Don't break anything while I'm gone. And stop fucking calling me Blondie! I thought I'd trained you out of that habit!"  
Sinedd held up a middle finger to the back of her head as she turned to go, smiling.

Alcohol had always made him curious and only seconds after the automatic door had shut behind Ebony, Sinedd was on his feet, analysing the holo-television with interest. The photographs beneath the screen started to gradually steal his attention away.  
He recognised Ebony's father, Senator Appex, from that time that he had seen him at the Stadium. He was a tall, Shadowarian man with thick black hair and in every photo, he seemed to have the same rather cruel, haughty stare.

"That vain look is probably the only thing he has in common with her at all," Sinedd thought, incredulously.

There was a younger girl in the photographs too. She had much more of the obvious Shadowarian traits than Ebony. While she was a little shorter than most native Shadows girls and her nose and face had a distinctly "Akillian-flavour", her eyes were the same dark red and her skin was the same pure white as her father's.

"That's her younger sister, I'm guessing."

There were a lot of pictures of Ebony at various events, presumable dance recitals, holidaying on different planets and simply just posing on her own. In one or two, she was clad in dance leotards, long, slinky evening gowns or flouncy holiday dresses-obviously chosen to show off her long, pale legs and rather nicely sculpted curves.

"Vain bitch," Sinedd muttered quickly, shaking those observations from his head. "Fuck it, after living on a planet where girls have fewer curves than an inter-space highway, I've gone desperate."  
But to his own dismay, this thought was hard to cling to.

Thankfully, one particular picture caught his attention once again.  
Or rather what was in front of it.

One particular photograph was blocked by something lime green and soft-looking. Upon pulling it away, Sinedd found that it was…_a football?_  
It was a child's plush toy football- one that you might give a seven year old to kick around the house. It was a perfect green and burgundy replica of one of the Shadows' signature footballs yet it was a lot smaller and far too soft to break anything with.  
Sinedd ran his fingers over the soft material surface, noticing how worn and faded it was. It had been well-used and it rather reminded the Shadows' star striker of one the toy footballs that he used to play with when he was a kid back on Akillian.  
For a brief moment he experimentally dropped the ball on to the bridge of his foot, letting it bounce as he played a little game of "keepy-uppy" with himself.  
His personal record was two hundred and forty five kicks, keeping the ball up in the air and he had only dropped it because someone had interrupted him.  
This time, he only got as far as ten kicks… but that was because he had, for the first time, noticed the photograph that the football had been placed to obscure.

It was a picture of a pretty blonde-haired woman, somewhere in her mid-twenties and wearing a pale purple football jersey. Sinedd didn't recognise it so it was more than likely a small team or a local club. He _did_, however, recognise the snowy mountains behind her as being a range only found on Akillian.  
The woman was playing with a little girl- a gawky little kid with crooked teeth, freckles and a dandelion clock of tight yellow ringlets. The two of them were smiling widely as they played in the snow, the little girl jumping on the woman with glee.  
Around the little girl's neck, there was something glinting….a silver chain with star on the end of it…Ebony's necklace?

Sinedd's eyes widened with realisation.  
The little girl was Ebony and that meant that the woman must have been her mother…

_ "Put it down….now…" _

Sinedd raised his head and turned around, only to see Ebony, her eyes wide with horror at his discovery.

"Put down the photo and the football back where you found it," she commanded again, trying to sound threatening though her face was gradually turning bright red.  
A slow grin spread across Sinedd's face and he looked back to the photograph.

"Awww…look at little Ebony! Isn't she just adorable?! Look at that chubby little face!"  
"Shut up! I was five years old! Everyone is chubby at five years of age, Snowballs!"  
"Yeah, but not everyone has those _precious_ little buck teeth that you had…"  
"Sinedd! Put the picture down!"  
"Fine, fine…I'll put this back where it belongs…that image is logged away in my mind forever though. I bet Fulmungus and the guys will be delighted to hear all about how gawky you looked as a kid…"  
"…You wouldn't."

Sinedd raised an eyebrow, holding up the plush football before placing it on the carpet beneath their feet. "Oh? Wouldn't I?" He sniggered. "Ok, how about this? If you can tackle me and get this ball off of me- I won't say a thing about your Ugly Duckling baby photo to the guys. Deal?"

Ebony looked sceptical, folding her arms. "How can I trust you?"  
Sinedd raised both hands submissively. "I promise that I'm not bullshitting, princess. But hey, you can't really afford _not_ to trust me at the moment."  
The young woman pouted, looking annoyed before heaving a sigh and taking off her high heel shoes.  
"Fine! Fine!"

She bolted towards Sinedd, immediately trying to tear the ball into her control, digging her heel into the plush-covered side. However, pre-empting her moves, Sinedd immediately stepped down onto the ball, squashing it flat and making it impossible to push from under his foot. After a few moments of pushing and shoving, the seriousness of the situation had been just about lost and the two of them were grinning madly. Also, neither of the two of them had managed to sober up quite yet either.

"You bastard! Standing on the ball is cheating!" Ebony shouted, though she was biting back intense giggles.

"Point me to the exact line in the Galactik Football rule-book that says that!" he taunted, steadfast on the ball until Ebony suddenly rammed her shoulder into his chest, sending them both toppling to the carpeted floor, still in fits of laughter.

"Foul! I've just been fouled! Where is the referee-bot?"  
"Hey, it's not my fault that you have terrible co-ordination and can't even stand on your own two feet!"

It took a moment for Sinedd's head to clear, his sudden bout of childishness to subside and for him to acknowledge the manner in which they had fallen.  
Ebony had managed to push him so that he was now lying beneath her, their legs entangled, her breasts pressing into his broad chest and he could feel her nose and powdery cheek grazing his neck. A moment of silence passed, in which Ebony seemed to realise their current position too and slowly she lifted her (reddened) face from his neck, straightening her arms and lifting herself up.  
A curtain of blonde ringlets fell on either side of Sinedd's face as she came to rest, leaning on his chest and staring down at him. Apparently testing the waters.

His violet stare met her blue-eyed one for the hundred thousandth time since they first day that they'd met, almost five months ago.  
Sinedd pulled a face as he moved to place both hands behind his head.

"Oooh…arrr…you're crushing me with your intense weight! Quickly! Your huge fat body will compress me to atoms!"  
Ebony stubbornly stayed where she was and moved her head to lightly knock her forehead against his own. "Serves you right for coming into a lady's home and engaging her in heavy tackling."

Sinedd returned the light headbutt. "Serves you right for inviting me up here. Plus you're no lady." He blew one of her curls from his face. "Pft…and your hair tickles…"  
Ebony smirked, lifting a hand and ruffling his black quills. "Yeah but your hair _prickles_. How much gel do you put in this?"

She lowered her head again to meet his gaze once more, only this time her nose was just barely skimming his own. Without the smog to act as a muslin gauze between the two, he could feel the warmth of her breath against his face.  
He could feel her heartbeat beneath her shirt, rhythmically pounding against his own.

_ "No, this isn't happening…" _

Gradually and automatically, he moved one hand from behind his head to lightly rest on her hip and ignoring her previous question, he responded silkily: "Your daddy wouldn't like this at all."

_ "Remember the day of the one-on-one. Remember how strong you are. Remember how you don't need anyone. Remember that you could have ANYONE. Remember who this IS who's lying on you." _

"Wouldn't like what?" she asked innocently, deliberately not moving a muscle and continuing to gaze down at him. The next move was his.

_ "This is the alcohol talking. It's got to be the alcohol. Or maybe I've gone insane." _

Insane or not, the dark-haired Galactik Football icon had decided a long time ago that whatever he wanted, he would claim. Sinedd picked up on the challenging tone in her voice and feeling obliged to respond to it, suddenly slid his hand to the small of her back.  
Pushing her body even closer to his as he lifted his head slightly, his eyes lidded as hers were closed, his thin lips just touching her glossy ones as he whispered.

"This."

An awkward, embarrassed cough from the other side of the room caused both of their eyes to snap open as the two of them scrambled to sit up straight, (liberally pushing and shoving the other aside), only to observe an extremely uncomfortable-looking cooking-android standing at the other side of the room.

"Er…Madam?"

Ebony kneeled up, breathing heavily as she smoothed out her creased blouse. "What?! What do you want?!"  
"Dinner is served, Madam."

Ebony rolled her eyes, standing up. "We had better head to the dining room then. Hadn't we?"  
She slipped her heels back on and followed the Android out.

For a brief moment, as he got to his feet, Sinedd felt a ripple of anger pass through him but repulsed at the reasons for his anger, he resisted the urge to punch through one of the glass windows.

* * *

"So you just pushed Micro-Ice out of the way?"  
"Yep. Aarch booked me for it afterwards but it was pretty fucking funny at the time!"

Ebony took another sip of wine, giving a snort of laughter. "What did the Red Tigers players think?"  
"They were laughing at that little idiot just as much as I was," Sinedd chuckled, finishing another chocolate-coated marshmallow. "Ugh, that was the last match that I ever played with the Snow-Losers. It still makes me sick to my stomach to think that I used to play opposite D'Jok."  
"You prefer playing opposite me?" teased Ebony, dipping a strawberry into her chocolate fondue dish with one hand, the other toying with her necklace.

"Yeah, sure I do," Sinedd returned, pouring himself another glass of dessert wine. "Playing next to you makes me look like an even better player."

Ebony rolled her eyes. "I walked straight into that one, didn't I?"  
Her companion sat back, wine glass in hand and thoroughly full after a three-course dinner. "Yes…yes, you did…"

She laughed for a moment but then leaned forward, groaning, knuckling her forehead.  
"Mmmph."

"What's the matter? Can't hold your wine?" he jeered, swirling his own glass. "Unadarian wine can be strong but it's all about knowing your limits."

Ebony shook her head. "No. Headaches. Just need a quick fix."  
She reached into her pocket and took out her canister, tapping two pills out and quickly putting them in her mouth. She took a long, deep inhale and slowly put her head on the table. "Mmm…that's better…"

Sinedd frowned, taking up the canister that she had set down.  
He knew from his prior reading of the label that the drug she was taking was Metholine. He didn't know much about the drug- only that it was generally used to substitute the adrenaline-fuelled or intoxicating effects of powerful fluxes: the smog, in Ebony's case.

She frowned, seeing him reading the canister once more. "It's not illegal…on most planets…I have to get it on special prescription."  
Sinedd put down the canister slowly, allowing her to take it back.  
"Here's something that I don't understand, Ebony," he orated, sipping at his wine as he watched her. "I know that the smog comes natural to you but you've still got human lungs…but you said that you had surgery to correct that...to make it so that you didn't have breathing problems anymore…so why do you still have to take the pills? I mean, you don't really need them."

Ebony gripped the plastic canister until her knuckles turned milky and then shoved it back into her bag. "I do need them, though. The doctors gave me these when I was younger to help me get used to having the smog in my body. The smog…helps me to relax…it helps me to think clearly…but if I use the real smog outside of football, I'll be arrested by Brim Simbra and his High Orders…so I use the pills as an artificial flux…"  
Sinedd put down the wine glass. "And the cigarettes?"  
She raised an eyebrow at his nosiness but kept talking. "They've got a crushed-up version of Metholine in them. It literally feels like I'm smoking the smog."  
Ebony ran her fingers back through her hair, sitting up straight.

Sinedd frowned a little. "But even with the surgery, you're still part Akillianish. You're still part human. The smog is still going to make you sick." He shrugged. "And I tried smoking back on Akillian. It just ruins you eventually. Why keep doing something that isn't going to fucking make you happier at the end of the day?"

Ebony gave a small, dry chortle and shrugged in return. "Because it feels good? That's the only real answer that I can give you."  
Sinedd's eyes glinted in the electronic candle-light as he watched her, saying nothing.

"Addiction is a funny thing," she went on, smiling in spite of herself, breaking her denial for the first time in front of Sinedd. "Pills, cigarettes, alcohol, the flux…fame…doesn't matter what you're addicted to…what will always fascinate me is that…"

She took a breath and looked up at Sinedd, daring herself to meet that glinting gaze.  
"It's amazing how you can find yourself so unspeakably drawn to something that constantly hurts you. How you can be so stuck on something that you actually despise. How you can want something that brings you so much frustration…"

For a brief moment, Sinedd found himself swallowing uncomfortably, but not allowing himself to even lightly reflect on what Ebony had just said, he changed the subject.

"Hey, does that holo-tv in your sitting room get Arcadia sports? They're probably doing re-runs of the match at this stage."  
Ebony brightened up immediately. "Nice thinking! Hopefully they got my good side." She fluffed up her hair and beckoned for Sinedd to follow her.  
"You've got one of those?" he goaded, joining her on the sofa.

**BOOM!**

The two of them jumped as the whole ground beneath them seemed to vibrate, a resonant echo seeming to rattle through the giant apartment.  
Sinedd stood up. "The fuck was that?"  
Ebony shook her head. "I have no idea…" She peered out the window at the sky-line. "There's something alight in the distance."  
The other striker picked up the remote to turn on the tv. "Maybe they're setting off fireworks for us, or something?"

However the report on Arcadia Sports was far from one of celebration.  
Sinedd's blood ran cold and the bottom just about fell out of his stomach when he heard the first words of Callie's evening report.

** "…I have just received news of an explosion that has taken place in the Shadows' central city, just seconds ago, only a few miles from the stadium. We have not yet received any information regarding casualties or landmark damage…" **

Sinedd looked to Ebony slowly and saw that she was shaking too.

* * *

_ Hope you liked that! Comment and criticise as you wish! _


End file.
